Lesson 19 · Lesson guide
Writing Task 1: Trend Language — Rise, Fall, Fluctuate
Hello, my dear student!
Hello! In Lesson 18 you wrote the introduction and the overview. Now it is time for the details: the body paragraphs, where you describe each line with numbers.
To do this well you need a toolkit of trend language. Verbs: rise, fall, fluctuate, level off, peak. Nouns: a rise, a decline, a fluctuation. Adjectives and adverbs that say how big or how fast: a sharp rise, rose gradually. And small words that cause big mistakes: rose to 60, rose by 20, stood at 40.
By the end you will describe any line accurately and in more than one way, which is exactly what examiners mean by “a range of vocabulary”.
See you in the exercises,Your teacher
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The trend toolkit
Verbs
Up, down, no change, up and down
rise, increase, grow, climb · fall, decrease, decline, drop · remain stable, level off · fluctuate · peak at.
- Sales rose in 2020.
- Prices fluctuated.
- The figure levelled off at 100.
Nouns
There was a … in …
a rise, an increase, growth, a fall, a decline, a drop, a fluctuation, a peak.
- There was a sharp rise in sales.
- Sales reached a peak of 100,000.
How much
Adjectives and adverbs
Big: sharp, dramatic, significant. Small: slight. Slow and even: gradual, steady.
- rose sharply / a sharp rise
- fell slightly / a slight fall
Numbers
to, by, from, at, of
rose from 40 to 60 · rose by 20 · stood at 40 · peaked at 100 · a rise of 20.
- Sales rose from 40,000 to 60,000.
- Sales rose by 20,000.
Remember!
verb + adverb (rose sharply) = adjective + noun (a sharp rise). to = the new number; by = the difference.
Irregular verbs to know
rise – rose – risen
no object: Sales rose.
fall – fell – fallen
grow – grew – grown
raise – raised
needs an object: The company raised prices.
Common mistakes
Not: Sales raised sharply.Say: Sales rose sharply.
Rise has no object; raise needs one.
Not: There was a sharply rise in sales.Say: There was a sharp rise in sales.
Before a noun → adjective.
Not: Sales rose at 60,000.Say: Sales rose to 60,000.
The new number → to.
Check yourself
40 → 60: rose to 60 or rose by 60?
Make a noun phrase: Prices fell gradually.
Now it’s your turn!
8 short parts, each a little harder than the one before. Take your time: mistakes are how we learn.
— Your teacher