Upper-Intermediate Lesson16 Describing trends Upper-Intermediate Lesson16

Today we are going to learn: How to describe trends Verbs and adverbs Adjectives and nouns Prepositions Numerals Tenses

News Shares in food processing giant have slipped after it made losses of $ 0.5m last year. Customer numbers climbed up 350,000 to almost half a million last month. After the launch of a new product range the company’s profit surged 69% in 2015. The profit almost doubled in the last quarter.

News The company sank deep in the red during the financial slump. The Japanese car manufacturer has seen profits leap due to worldwide demand for cars. American retail chain is in crisis after its shares plummeted on Friday.

Verbs Go up Surge Rise Double Increase Triple Climb Increase three-fold Gain Improve Leap Pick up Jump Recover Soar Reach the peak Rocket

Verbs To go down To slip To fall To plummet To decrease To halve To drop To bottom out To decline To hit a low To deteriorate

Horizontal movement To level off To even out To stabilize To remain stable To fluctuate

Adverbs: size of change Slightly Noticeably Substantially Considerably Significantly Dramatically

Adverbs: Speed and mode of Change Slowly Gradually Steadily Suddenly Rapidly Quickly Sharply

Conversion To decline quickly A quick decline To double slowly A slow doubling To decrease substantially A substantial decrease To gain suddenly A sudden gain To fall significantly A significant fall To fluctuate steadily A steady fluctuation

Conversion to drop slightly A slight drop to improve rapidly A rapid improvement to increase noticeably A noticeable increase A gradual levelling off to level off gradually A sharp peak to peak sharply A dramatic jump to jump dramatically

Prepositions Sales rose to $2.5 million Sales rose by $2.5 million Sales have gone down from €5 billion to €4.7 billion. There has been a decrease in annual sales of €1.3 billion. Last year sales stood at £3.6 million.

Numerals $4.99 Four dollars ninety-nine €6.70 six euros seventy £340 three hundred pounds and forty ¥235 two hundred and thirty-five yen (yuan) – same symbol ₴550 five hundred and fifty hryvnias

Decimals 17.3 seventeen point three 15.68 fifteen point six eight 0.375 nought point three seven five 3.14159 ?

Big numbers 379, 245, 680 Three hundred and seventy-nine million, two hundred and forty-five thousand, six hundred and eighty

Tenses Oil prices are rising. Changing or developing situations. Last year we raised our prices. A complete action or event which happened at a stated time in the past. We have risen our profits this year. Actions which happened within a specific period which is not over.

Can you describe the trends regarding… your area of work or study average income health and life expectancy climate employment political freedom equality

Today we have learned: How to describe trends Verbs and adverbs Adjectives and nouns Prepositions Numerals Tenses