Connect a physical part to its description
Diagram labelling combines a written description with a drawing. Begin by identifying the whole object and its orientation. Then use the arrows, existing labels and relative positions to predict each missing part. “Under”, “inside”, “above” and “at the base” are evidence, not decorative details. Read them as instructions for moving around the drawing.
This lesson uses a deliberately simple solar dryer. It is a fictional teaching design, not construction advice. You are naming components, not calculating performance or choosing materials. The numbered callouts in the diagram correspond exactly to Questions 1–6. An equivalent numbered text description appears below it so that the exercise does not require vision.
Do not label a component from general knowledge alone. For example, a drawing might resemble a window, but the passage could call it a transparent cover. When instructions require passage words, that wording controls the answer. Locate the term, check that its position and function fit the arrow, then copy it within the word limit.
Original passage: Inside a demonstration solar dryer
A. A museum’s demonstration solar dryer shows how moving warm air can carry moisture away from sliced fruit. The apparatus consists of a shallow sloping box joined to a taller drying cabinet. Visitors observe the device during demonstrations; the museum does not use the dried samples as food. The illustration shows the internal arrangement rather than the dimensions of a working machine.
B. At the lower end of the sloping box, a mesh inlet admits air while keeping large insects outside. A transparent cover forms the box’s upper surface and allows sunlight to enter. Beneath it lies a black plate, which absorbs energy and warms the air passing over it. The cover and the plate have different jobs, although both extend along most of the sloping section.
C. The warmed air moves into the cabinet through an opening near its base. Fruit slices rest on perforated trays arranged above one another. Holes in the trays let air pass around the slices. A thermometer fixed to the cabinet’s inner side wall allows the demonstrator to observe temperature without touching the fruit. It is positioned beside the upper tray, not inside the sloping box.
D. At the top of the cabinet, a short chimney provides an exit for moist air. A small hood keeps falling debris out of that opening. During demonstrations, staff compare the temperature near the trays with the room temperature and discuss why air must keep moving. They point out that an obstructed inlet or blocked exit would interrupt the route shown by the arrows, even when sunlight still reached the black plate.
Original fictional learning text. The passage and questions were created for this lesson, not copied from an IELTS test.
Label the six numbered parts
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each label.
Text equivalent and answer fields
The descriptions below identify the same six callout positions as the diagram. Answer here using either representation.
Answers and the evidence behind them
Compare your reason as well as your answer. Each explanation identifies the decisive detail and the tempting mistake.
1. Reveal answer and explanation
mesh inlet. Paragraph B places the mesh inlet at the lower end of the sloping box. Its entrance function agrees with the incoming airflow. The chimney is an opening too, but it is the exit at the opposite end.
2. Reveal answer and explanation
transparent cover. The cover forms the sloping box’s upper surface. The arrow points to this outer boundary rather than the dark plate below it. Copy the adjective and noun used together in paragraph B.
3. Reveal answer and explanation
black plate. Paragraph B locates the black plate beneath the cover. Its role is to warm passing air; it is not one of the trays holding fruit in the taller cabinet.
4. Reveal answer and explanation
perforated trays. Paragraph C describes trays above one another, with holes allowing airflow. The diagram’s horizontal broken lines represent these shelves. Retain the plural because more than one tray is shown.
5. Reveal answer and explanation
thermometer. Paragraph C places the thermometer beside the upper tray on the cabinet’s inner wall. The nearby fruit is not the measured part: the device observes temperature without touching it.
6. Reveal answer and explanation
chimney. Paragraph D identifies the chimney as the exit at the top. The callout points to the upright outlet, not the small hood above it. Relative position distinguishes those adjacent components.
Use two checks for every arrow
Check position first, then function. For Question 3, “beneath the cover” establishes the location and “warms the air” establishes the job. If one check fits but the other does not, reread the label. This prevents you from naming every dark rectangle in a diagram as the same material.
For a worked contrast, compare the hood and chimney. Both are near the roof, but only the chimney provides the exit passage; the hood sits over it to exclude debris. A rough visual guess could confuse them. Precise reading separates adjacent parts without requiring engineering knowledge.
Now trace one continuous route from inlet to outlet and say which numbered parts the air passes near. Do not invent a fan, motor or filter simply because other dryers might contain one. Practise process sequencing next if the movement was difficult, or short answers if finding the exact noun phrase was your main challenge.
Question-format reference: official IELTS Academic Reading guidance, checked 15 October 2026. All teaching examples and practice material on this page are original.