Joy English · Level B2 · Trendsjoy-english.com
Describing trends and change
Name:Date:
Learn verbs, adverbs and adjectives to describe how numbers change over time, as in reports and graph descriptions.
Choose the trend word
Choose the best answer.
- The price of tomatoes went up and down all year. It ___.
- Sales rose from 40,000 to 80,000. They ___.
- Visitor numbers fell ___ 300, from 1,500 to 1,200.
- Which word means suddenly and by a large amount?
- After rising for five years, house prices have ___ and are now stable.
- The company ___ its prices last month.
- Electricity use is highest at around 7 p.m. That is when it ___.
- Prices went up by just 0.5%. It was a ___ increase.
Complete the report
Type one word in each gap. Use each word once and change the form if needed. Use: decline, double, fluctuate, gradually, peak, significant, trend.
- Sales of paper maps continue to ___ as more people use their phones to find their way.
- Ice cream sales ___ in August, when they reach their highest level of the year.
- In the desert, the temperature can ___ by more than 30 degrees between day and night.
- The village's population has ___ since 2010, from 1,500 to 3,000.
- The improvement wasn't sudden; it happened ___ over several years.
- There has been a ___ rise in the number of people cycling to work. It is too large to ignore.
- One clear ___ in recent years is that more young people share cars instead of buying them.
Answer key
Choose the trend word
- b) fluctuatedFluctuate means go up and down many times.
- c) doubled80,000 is twice 40,000, so sales doubled.
- a) byWe use by for the amount of change. The numbers went down 300, and to would show the final level.
- b) sharplySharply describes a sudden, large change. Gradually and steadily describe slow or even change.
- c) levelled offLevel off means stop rising or falling and stay at about the same level.
- a) raisedRaise needs an object (its prices). Rise has no object.
- b) peaksPeak means reach the highest point.
- c) slightHalf a percent is a very small change, so it was slight.
Complete the report
- decline / fall / drop / decreaseDecline means become smaller or less. Phones are replacing paper maps.
- peakPeak means reach the highest point or level.
- fluctuate / vary / changeFluctuate means go up and down. Desert temperatures rise in the day and fall at night.
- doubled3,000 is twice 1,500, so the population has doubled. Has needs the past participle.
- gradually / slowly / steadilyGradually means slowly, over a long period. It is the opposite of sudden.
- significant / considerable / substantialSignificant means large or important enough to be noticed.
- trendA trend is a general direction of change over time.