Test 1

VOCABULARY
Nouns/noun phrases showing upward trend
A growth
An improvement
An upsurge
An upturn
An upward trend
Verbs/verb phrases showing upward/rising trend
Basic forms

Past forms

Go up

went up

Grow

grew

Improve

improved

Elevate

elevated

Escalate

escalated

Expand

expanded

Raise

raised

Rocket

rocketed

Shoot up

shot up

Soar

soared

Pick up

picked up

Take off

took off

Jump

jumped

Swell

swelled

Augment

augmented

Common words as nouns and verbs for upward/rising trend

Basic nouns/verbs

Past verbs

Increase

increased

Rise

rose

Climb

climbed

Leap

leapt

Lift

lifted

Surge

surged

Boom

boomed

Peak

peaked

Supplement

supplemented

Nouns/noun phrases showing downward/decreasing trend

A trough
A reduction
A depression
A downturn
A nosedive
A downward trend

Verbs/verb phrases showing downward/decreasing trend

Basic forms

Past forms

Go/come down

went/come down

Reduce

reduced

Lessen

lessened

Lower

lowered

Plummet

plummeted

Slip

slipped

Sink

sank

Contract

contracted

Shrink

shrank

Subside

subsided

Deplete

depleted

Diminish

diminished

Common words as nouns and verbs for downward/decreasing trend

Basic nouns/verbs

Past verbs

Decrease

decreased

Decline

declined

Drop

dropped

Dip

dipped

Plunge

plunged

Slide

slid

Slump

slumped

Collapse

collapsed

Crash

crashed

Adjectives
Degree/intensity: small, slight, minor, insignificant, mild, gentle, marginal, minimal, partial,
moderate, reasonable, considerable, noticeable, notable, marked, remarkable, significant,
substantial, fair, large, great, heavy, major, serious, sharp, dramatic, steep, enormous, huge, vast,
extensive, extreme, exceptional.
Time: gradual, slow, fast, quick, rapid, swift, speedy, short-lived.
Specific pattern: abrupt, sudden, steady, continuous, constant, even, smooth, consistent,
systematic, orderly, uneven, irregular, erratic, wild, random, haphazard, fluctuating, striking,
overwhelming, staggering, ever-increasing, ever-rising, ever-decreasing.
Comparison: relative, comparative.

Adverbs
Degree/intensity: slightly, insignificantly, mildly, gently, marginally, minimally, partially,
moderately, reasonably, considerably, noticeably, notably, markedly, remarkably, significantly,
substantially, fairly, largely, greatly, heavily, sharply, dramatically, steeply, enormously, hugely,
vastly, extensively, exceptionally.
Time: gradually, slowly, fast, quickly, rapidly, swiftly, speedily.
Specific pattern: abruptly, suddenly, steadily, continuously, constantly, evenly, smoothly,
consistently, systematically, unevenly, irregularly, erratically, wildly, randomly, haphazardly,
strikingly.
Comparison: relatively, comparatively.

Some expressions showing the degree or manner of change

At a slow(er) pace, at a fast(er) pace, at a slow(er) rate, at a fast(er) rate, in a slow manner, in a
fast manner, in a swift manner, in a systematic manner, in an irregular manner, in a fluctuating
manner, a little, a little bit of, a bit, a bit of, a lot, a lot of, much, very much, great deal, a great
deal of, a fair amount of, to some extent, to a small extent, to a certain extent, to a large extent, to
a great extent, to a considerable extent, to a significant extent.

Describing specific positions (in past tense)

Reached, approached, reached/hit a peak, reached it/their highest, level/highest point/highest
value, hit the highest level/highest point/highest value, peaked, topped out, fell to the lowest
level/lowest point/lowest value, hit the lowest level/lowest point/lowest value, bottomed out,
sank to a trough, fell to a low of, dropped to a minimum of, hit an all-time low/high, struck an
all-time low/high, stood at, stayed at.

Describing no change/movement (in past tense)

Was/were unchanged, did not change, remained/stayed constant, remained/stayed the same,
remained/held steady, remained stable, stabilized, stayed at the same level, maintained the same
level, using a noun phrase a flat trend.

Describing stability after a change or variation (in past tense)

Got/became stable, stabilized, got/became stagnant, stagnant, levelled off/out, flattened out,
reached a plateau, plateaued, evened out.

Converting nouns to verbs and vice versa

Nouns

Verbs

Growth

grow

Acceleration

accelerate

Soaring

soar

Rocketing

rocket

Expansion

expand

Bouncing back

bounce back

Lowering

lower

Lessening

lessen

Diminishing

diminish

Depletion

deplete

Plummeting

plummet

Levelling off/out

level off/out

Flattening out

flatten out

Fluctuation

fluctuate

Expressions of measurement
Include, constitute, comprise, make up, account for, consist of, amount to, represent, half, halve,
double, triple, treble, quadruple, one-third, two-third, one-fourth, one-fifth, a quarter, twoquarters, twofold, threefold, fourfold, fivefold, sixfold, sevenfold, eightfold, ninefold, tenfold,
times (two times, three times and so on).
Examples:

The number trebled. (an increase from 50 to 150)

The sale in February was one-third of that of the sale in July. (February sale, 50; July
sale, 150; 50 is one-third fraction of 150)
The number rose by three-quarters. (an increase from 100 to 175)
The number increased fourfold. (an increase from 250 to 1000)
There was a fourfold increase.
The increase was fourfold.
The number increased four times.
The increase was four times.

Some useful vocabulary

A sudden/unexpected downfall

collapse, crash, take a nosedive, smash down

Abrupt/unexpected change

drift, turnaround

Moving upward/ahead slowly

creep up, crawl

Increased rate of change

recover, accelerate, pick up, bounce back, rally

Decreased rate of change

retard, slow down (n. slowdown)

Changes in short intervals

vary, fluctuate (n. fluctuation), irregularity

Benchmarking

approach, go beyond, cross, exceed

Approximation

approximately, around, about, roughly, more or less,

almost, almost all, most of nearly, close to just over,
just under, slightly above, slightly below, slightly
higher than, slightly lower than
well over, well under, way up, way beyond, way
high(er), way low(er), way less, far more than, far
less than, much high(er), much low(er).
higher than, lower than, more than, less than, lesser
than, greater than, larger than, fewer than, smaller
than, highest, lowest/least, maximum, minimum, far
more than, far less than.
also, even, as well as, bothand, asas, not
onlybut also, likewise, similarly, in a similar
way/manner/fashion, in the same way, just as,
similar to, similarity with, like, alike, compared
with/to, in comparison with, correspond to, mirror,
reflect, have in common, resemble, resemblance.
but, while/whilst, whereas, however, on the other
hand, although, yet, even though, even so,
nevertheless, morethan, lessthan, different
(from), differ (from), difference, unlike, dissimilar
to, as opposed to, in contrast to, by contrast,
contrastingly, conversely, instead of.
then, after that, following that
in case of, in terms of, apart from, except for, as for,
with regard to
besides, moreover, furthermore, in addition to,
additionally, other than that, except that

Giving a general idea

Comparing numbers and proportions

Similarity

Contrast

Sequencing
Linking phrases
Adding information
Use of some words/phrases

Have
Get/become
Start
Hold
Continue
Keep
Experience
Suffer
Follow
Wild/erratic/random
Stage
Overall
due to

Way
Far

had an irregular pattern

got/became stable
started off well, started climbing
held steady
continued to increase
kept rising, kept falling
experienced, a sudden downturn
suffered a sharp decline
followed a steady rise, a sharp fall followed
wild/erratic/random fluctuations, went up and down
wildly/erratically/randomly
staged a partial recovery
as adjective: The overall increase in the number of students was
increased promotion.
As adverb: Overall, the number of students increased over a period of 10
years.
way beyond a hundred
far greater than, far less than

Expressions useful in making predictions

It is predicted/forecast(ed)/expeeted/estimated/likely/probable that
There is a likelihood/possibility/probability that
is predicated/projected/forecast(ed)/expected/estimated to decline sharply.
Note: American spellings are acceptable.