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Joy English

B2 Vocabulary

B2Trends15 min

Describing trends and change

Learn verbs, adverbs and adjectives to describe how numbers change over time, as in reports and graph descriptions.

Reports, presentations and exam tasks often ask you to describe how something has changed over time. Instead of repeating went up and went down, you can use precise verbs together with adverbs or adjectives that show how big or how fast a change was.

riseverb
go up; become higher or greaterThe number of cyclists in the city rose by 15% last year.
declineverb
become smaller, weaker or lessSales of printed maps have declined steadily for a decade.
fluctuateverb
go up and down many timesThe price of fresh vegetables fluctuates with the seasons.
peakverb
reach the highest point or levelWater use peaks in the early evening, when people cook and wash.
level offphrasal verb
stop rising or falling and stay at about the same levelAfter years of growth, membership has levelled off.
doubleverb
become twice as bigThe number of online students has doubled since the new course began.
steadilyadverb
at a regular, even rateThe town's population has grown steadily for thirty years.
sharplyadverb
suddenly and by a large amountVisitor numbers fell sharply after the bridge closed.
graduallyadverb
slowly, over a long periodTemperatures gradually returned to normal.
significantadjective
large or important enough to be noticedThere was a significant drop in complaints after the change.
slightadjective
small; not very importantThere was a slight increase in prices in March.
trendnoun
a general direction in which something is changingThere is a growing trend towards working from home.
  • Prices rose sharply in May. = There was a sharp rise in prices in May.
  • Attendance fell by 200 people. (by shows the amount of change)
  • Attendance fell to 1,800. (to shows the final level)
  • The number of members rose from 200 to 350.

Exercise 1 of 2

Choose the trend word

Choose the best answer.

  1. The price of tomatoes went up and down all year. It _____.

  2. Sales rose from 40,000 to 80,000. They _____.

  3. Visitor numbers fell _____ 300, from 1,500 to 1,200.

  4. Which word means suddenly and by a large amount?

  5. After rising for five years, house prices have _____ and are now stable.

  6. The company _____ its prices last month.

  7. Electricity use is highest at around 7 p.m. That is when it _____.

  8. Prices went up by just 0.5%. It was a _____ increase.

0 of 8 answered

Exercise 2 of 2

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.

  1. Sales of paper maps continue to as more people use their phones to find their way.

  2. Ice cream sales in August, when they reach their highest level of the year.

  3. In the desert, the temperature can by more than 30 degrees between day and night.

  4. The village's population has since 2010, from 1,500 to 3,000.

  5. The improvement wasn't sudden; it happened over several years.

  6. There has been a rise in the number of people cycling to work. It is too large to ignore.

  7. One clear in recent years is that more young people share cars instead of buying them.

0 of 7 answered

Source

Original lesson by Joy English.

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