Maps: describing change
Map tasks have no numbers. The examiner wants a clear overview of the main changes, exact location language and precise verbs of change in the right tense. Study an annotated model on a riverside town, learn the vocabulary of development, then describe a seafront redevelopment plan.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- Choose the right tense for past-to-past, past-to-present and present-to-future map tasks
- Describe change precisely with verbs such as demolished, replaced by, converted into, relocated and pedestrianised
- Say exactly where things are with compass-based location language
- Organise a map answer by area or by time, never map by map
- Write an overview that sums up the main changes in one or two sentences
Read the dates first: they decide your tense
| Task wording | Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
Two past dates: … in 1995 and 2015 | Past simple (mostly passive) | The rice fields were replaced by a housing estate. |
A past date and now: … in 2005 and today / the present day | Present perfect (mostly passive) | The rice fields have been replaced by a housing estate. |
Three dates: … in 1980, 2000 and 2020 | Past simple; past perfect with by + date | By 2000, the woodland had been cleared. |
Now and a plan: … at present and the proposed changes | Future passive: will be / is to be / is set to be / is planned to be + past participle | The car park is to be replaced by a hotel. |
What was there before | Past simple active: there was, stood, was located, lay | In 2005, an open-air bazaar stood at the crossroads. |
What is there now (in a plan task) | Present simple | Currently, the warehouse stands next to the car park. |
Things that do not change | remain / stay (active only) | The pond remains unchanged. ( |
2005
Today
Your 3-minute map analysis routine
- 1
1. Read the title and the dates
Past and past? Past and today? Today and a plan? Decide your main tense before anything else (see the table above).
- 2
2. Find the fixed reference points
Locate the compass and features that appear on both maps (the river, the main road). You will use them to describe locations: north of the highway, along the riverbank.
- 3
3. Compare zone by zone
Divide the map into two to four zones, e.g. north and south of the main road. For each zone, note what has been removed, what is new, what has changed (size, use, position) and what is unchanged.
- 4
4. Find the big picture
What do most changes have in common? More housing? Less green space? Better transport? More facilities for tourists? Two of these ideas make your overview.
- 5
5. Choose how to organise
Two maps: usually by area (north / south). Three maps: usually by time. See the table below.
- 6
6. Match each change to a precise verb
Fields → replaced by housing; woodland → partly cleared; school → extended; market → relocated. Precise verbs earn Lexical Resource marks; changed and became earn very few.
Organising the body: by area, by time or by type of change
| Approach | Best for | Paragraph plan |
|---|---|---|
By area | Two maps with changes spread across the whole place (the most common case) | Body 1: the north (or the area west of the river). Body 2: the south (or the east). Within each, move logically: west → east. |
By time | Three or more maps (1970, 1995, 2020) | Body 1: changes up to the middle date. Body 2: changes from the middle date to the last one. Use the past perfect: By 1995, the farm had been sold … |
By type of change | Plans, or maps where the changes fall into clear groups | Body 1: transport changes (roads, bridges, stations). Body 2: buildings and facilities. Works well when the overview already names these two themes. |
Never | Any task |
|
Task: The maps below show the town of Nadipur in 2005 and today. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
The maps illustrate how the riverside town of Nadipur has changed since 2005.
Overall, the town has become considerably more urbanised, with farmland and part of the woodland giving way to housing and public services. Transport links have also improved significantly, most notably with the construction of a bridge across the river.
In the northern half of the town, the rice fields to the east of the north–south road have been replaced by a large housing estate. On the opposite side of this road, the school has been extended southwards, while the eastern half of the woodland has been cleared to make way for a hospital. The main road that divides the town has also been widened into a highway.
The changes to the south are equally striking. The ferry that once linked the town to the opposite bank has disappeared, as the north–south road now continues across the river on a new bridge. The open-air bazaar at the crossroads has been replaced by a much larger shopping centre, and the fish market has been relocated to the south-east, its original site having been converted into a riverside park. Finally, River Street has been pedestrianised, although the pond and the houses remain unchanged.
- Introduction‘show the town … in 2005 and today’ becomes ‘illustrate how … has changed since 2005’. The writer adds ‘riverside’, which is visible on the map.
- Overview: two big ideas, no details(1) more urbanised: farmland and woodland gave way to housing and services; (2) better transport, with the bridge as the most striking example. A reader who stopped here would already know the main story.
- Present perfect passiveThe second map is ‘today’, so changes are reported with has/have been + past participle: have been replaced, has been extended, has been cleared, has been relocated.
- Organised by areaBody 1 covers the north of the highway; body 2 covers the south and the river. Within each paragraph, the writer moves logically across the map instead of jumping around.
- Location languageto the east of the north–south road, on the opposite side of this road, the eastern half of the woodland, at the crossroads, to the south-east, across the river.
- Precise verbs of changereplaced by, extended southwards, cleared to make way for, widened into, relocated, converted into, pedestrianised. Each verb matches the type of change exactly.
- Describing what used to be there‘The ferry that once linked the town …’ uses the past simple inside a relative clause to describe the old feature before explaining what replaced it.
- Advanced grammar, used naturally‘its original site having been converted into a riverside park’ is an absolute participle clause. One structure like this is impressive; five would sound forced.
- Unchanged features‘the pond and the houses remain unchanged’: one short clause shows that the writer checked the whole map. ‘Remain’ is active; it has no passive.
Verbs of change
| Change | Verbs (usually passive) | Example | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
Building destroyed | demolished, knocked down, pulled down | The cinema was demolished in 2010. | For buildings and structures only, not trees or fields. |
Old feature → new feature | replaced by; made way for / gave way to (active) | The bazaar has been replaced by a shopping centre. / The rice fields have made way for housing. | OLD was replaced by NEW. Reversing them reverses the meaning. |
Same structure, new use | converted into, turned into, transformed into | The warehouse was converted into a museum. | Use into, not to. |
Made bigger | extended, enlarged, expanded, widened (roads), lengthened (piers, runways) | The school has been extended southwards. | Buildings are extended or enlarged; areas are expanded; roads are widened. |
Moved | relocated, moved | The fish market has been relocated to the south-east. | Say where it moved to, and what happened to the old site. |
New | constructed, built, erected, added, opened, laid out (parks, gardens) | A bridge has been constructed across the river. | Erected suits buildings, towers and statues, not roads or parks. |
Taken away | removed, cleared (trees, land), cut down (trees), filled in (ponds) | Half of the woodland has been cleared. |
|
Closed to traffic | pedestrianised (BrE) / pedestrianized (AmE) | River Street has been pedestrianised. | Both spellings are accepted; be consistent in one answer. |
No change | remain unchanged, stay the same, be retained | The pond remains unchanged. |
|
Location language
| Expression | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
in the north / in the north-east corner | inside the area, in that part of it | The rice fields were in the north-east of the town. |
to the north of / north of | outside or beside something, in that direction | The hospital lies to the west of the school. |
on the north side of | for lines such as roads and rivers | The houses are on the south side of the highway. |
adjacent to / next to / beside | touching or very close | The new car park is adjacent to the hotel. |
opposite / across the road from | on the other side of a road or river | The museum stands opposite the station. |
along / alongside | following the line of a road, river or coast | A walkway runs along the riverbank. |
between X and Y | with X on one side and Y on the other | The park lies between the river and the highway. |
at the crossroads / at the junction of | where roads meet | The bazaar stood at the crossroads. |
on the site of / where X used to be / on land formerly occupied by | the exact place of a replacement | A park now occupies the site of the old fish market. |
across / over | for bridges and routes | A bridge now carries the road across the river. |
northwards / southwards / to the east | the direction of an extension or a move | The school has been extended southwards. |
Avoid | on the left, at the top of the map, | Use compass points: in the west, on the north side. |
Describing the south of Nadipur
Band 5 version
In 2005 there was a ferry, a fish market and a bazaar. There was also River Street. Now there is a bridge, a park, a shopping centre and a new fish market. The River Street is now River Walk and the pond is same.
Band 8 version
The ferry that once linked the town to the opposite bank has disappeared, as the north–south road now continues across the river on a new bridge. The open-air bazaar at the crossroads has been replaced by a much larger shopping centre, while the fish market has been relocated to the south-east and its former site converted into a riverside park. River Street, meanwhile, has been pedestrianised.
The band 5 version lists what is on each map, so the reader has to work out the changes: did the market move or close? Is the park new? It has no location language, uses only ‘there was’ and ‘there is’, and contains errors (The River Street, is same). The band 8 version states each change directly with a precise verb (replaced by, relocated, converted into, pedestrianised), says where things are (at the crossroads, to the south-east) and links ideas with as, while and meanwhile.
Check your understanding
7 questions- 1
The task says: ‘The maps show a village in 1995 and 2015.’ Which tense should you mainly use?
- 2
The bazaar has been replaced a shopping centre.
- 3
Find and correct the mistake:
The shopping centre has been replaced by the bazaar.
- 4
A hospital is outside the town, a few kilometres away in a northerly direction. Which sentence is correct?
- 5
Match each feature with the verb that best describes what happened to it.
TreesA pondA warehouse that now contains flatsA narrow road that is now a dual carriagewayA shopping street where cars are now banned - 6
Find and correct the mistake:
The trees were demolished to build a hospital.
- 7
Which is the best overview for the Nadipur maps?
Answer every question to check.
Writing Task 1 practice
150+ words · 20 minThe maps below show the seafront of Seaview Bay at present and the changes that are planned for 2030.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Present
Planned (2030)
Self-check before submitting
- ☐ My introduction paraphrases the prompt (‘at present and the changes that are planned’ → ‘the current layout … with a proposed redevelopment scheme’).
- ☐ My overview gives the two biggest changes (the area becomes more tourist-oriented; traffic moves off the seafront) and no small details.
- ☐ I used varied future passive forms: will be built, is to be replaced, is set to be pedestrianised, are planned to be extended.
- ☐ I used the present simple only for what exists now (Currently, the warehouse stands …).
- ☐ My location language is accurate: north of the bypass, along the seafront, beside the shops, eastwards, on the beach.
- ☐ I organised the body by area or by theme (e.g. transport / seafront buildings), not ‘present map, then planned map’.
- ☐ I used precise verbs: converted into, replaced by, relocated, extended, lengthened, pedestrianised, constructed.
- ☐ I briefly mentioned what will stay the same (the existing hotel).
- ☐ I did not guess why the changes are planned or say whether they are good or bad.
- ☐ I wrote at least 150 words in about 20 minutes.
Final quiz: maps
10 questions- 1
According to the plan, a new bus station built north of the bypass.
- 2
Find and correct the mistake:
In the future, a museum will build on the site of the warehouse.
- 3
The task shows the same village in 1970, 1995 and 2020. What is usually the clearest way to organise the body paragraphs?
- 4
Choose TWO sentences that would work well in an overview of the Nadipur maps.
Select 2.
- 5
A new hospital was built the site of the old cinema.
- 6
By 2010, most of the farmland been cleared for housing.
- 7
Find and correct the mistake:
The car park was expanded to the left.
- 8
Find and correct the mistake:
The road was widen and a cycle lane was add.
- 9
The task shows a hospital ‘in 2000 and today’. Which sentence uses the correct tense?
- 10
Which sentence correctly describes what happened to the Nadipur fish market?
Answer every question to check.
Key takeaways
Map vocabulary
Saved as flashcards with a free accountdemolish
verb/dɪˈmɒlɪʃ/
to completely destroy a building or structure
ভেঙে ফেলা
The old cinema was demolished to make way for a car park.
relocate
verb/ˌriːləʊˈkeɪt/
to move something to a new place
স্থানান্তর করা
The fish market has been relocated to the south-east of the town.
pedestrianise
verb/pəˈdestriənaɪz/
to close a street to vehicles so that only people on foot can use it
যানবাহন বন্ধ করে শুধু পথচারীদের জন্য করা
River Street has been pedestrianised and is now a popular walkway.
adjacent to
preposition/əˈdʒeɪsnt tuː/
next to or very near something
সংলগ্ন; পাশেই
A new car park has been built adjacent to the hotel.
make way for
phrase/meɪk weɪ fɔː/
to be removed so that something new can be built or used in that place
নতুন কিছুর জন্য জায়গা ছেড়ে দেওয়া
The rice fields have made way for a large housing estate.
redevelopment
noun/ˌriːdɪˈveləpmənt/
the process of changing an area by building new things or changing existing ones
পুনর্নির্মাণ; পুনরুন্নয়ন
The redevelopment of the seafront is due to be completed by 2030.
urbanised
adjective/ˈɜːbənaɪzd/
changed from a rural area into a town-like area with many buildings
নগরায়িত
Over the period, the village became heavily urbanised.
infrastructure
noun/ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə/
the basic systems a place needs, such as roads, bridges, power and water supplies
অবকাঠামো
Transport infrastructure has improved considerably since 2005.
promenade
noun/ˌprɒməˈnɑːd/
a wide path beside the sea where people walk for pleasure
সমুদ্রতীরবর্তী হাঁটার পথ
The coast road is set to be turned into a promenade.
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