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The language of trends Trends

Using adjectives and adverbs

A trend is the way a situation is developing or changing. We talk about trends in the financial performance of a company (sales, profits, costs, budgets).

We often want to give more details about the size or speed of a trend. We can use basic words like small, large, sloivly, quickly and also the vvords below.

Sales fell slightly last quarter. Profits have risen 3% year-on-year. We talk about trends in marketing.

We saw some growth in market share last year. We talk about trends in the economy (inflation, interest rates, unemployment, house prices).

There has been a steady rise in inflation.

Movement up and down The most common verbs to describe movement u p are: go up, rise, increase, grow. The irregular verb forms are:

go up - ivent up - gone up . . rzse - rose - rzsen grow - grezv - groivn The nouns are rise, increase, growth.

Notice the two forms in the example sentences below: a) adjective+ noun, then b) verb+ adverb.

a There was a slight rise in profits. b Profits rose slightly. a There was a small increase in profits last year. b Profits increased a little last year.

a We have seen steady growth in market share. b Market share has grown steadily.

Other types of movement Sometimes there is no trend:

Look at these examples with verbs and nouns.

Costs have stayed the same / been stable.

Sales went up. Sales have risen. Sales increased. Sales have grown .

(no noun form)

Sometimes there is movement up and down:

There has been a rise in sales. There was an increase in sales. We've seen some growth in sales.

Prices have fluctuated all year. Prices have moved up and down within a range.

The most common verbs to describe movement down are: go down, fall, drop. The irregular verb forms are:

Sometimes there is a high point:

Sales peaked / reached a peak in the second quarter and then fell for the rest of the year.

go down - went down - gone dozvn fall - fell - fallen

We compare two points using 'be up / down'.

The nouns are fall, drop.

Profits were 15% down on the previous year.

Look at these examples with verbs and nouns.

Sales went down. Sales have fallen. Sales dropped.

('on' = compared to)

(no noun form)

Other points

We have seen a fall in sales. There ivas a drop in sales.

Study these sentences and notice the prepositions and time phrases.

Verb forms Remember that the past simple (rose, fell) is used for a time period that is fiI1ished. The present perfect (have risen, have fallen) is used for a time period that includes the present.

Costs rose last yearI in fanuary. Costs have risen this yearI since fanuary. 1 Read the text for general understandmg.

2 Read it agam and underline the words you don't know. Check their meanmg.

32

slight - slightly: very small gradual - gradually: slow and over ~ long period steady - steadily: slow but contmumg significant - significantly: noticeable and important sharp - sharply: large and sudden

Turnover went up from €38m to €42m - that's an increase of €41n. Turnover went up (by) €4rn. Operating costs ivere stable at around €8.6rn. There has been a 2% increase in inflation. Sales went up 1.5% last quarter. Sales are up 6% year on year. Here are the sales figures for last month. 3 Highlight words you know passively, but don't use actively. Choose some to write sentences of your own.

4 Check pronunciation at macmillandictionary.com

14 THE LANGUAGE OF TRENDS

Exercises

14.4 Complete the sentences with these prepositions:

14.1 Match graphs 1-6 with sentences a-f.

80

at, for, from, in, of, on, to.

2

1

1 There was a 14% increase

__

60

-

............

40

.........._~-

20

last year

80

last year

this year

this year

4

3

profits. €28. 7m. That's

2 Turnover went up E2Sm an increase around 15°/o . 3 Market share remained the same around 20°/o. 4 Sales are up 10°/o year-year. 5 Here are the sales figures last month. 14.5 Complete sentence b so that it has the same

60

meaning as sentence a .

40 20

last year

last year

this year

5

this year

6

last year

this year

last year

this year

a b c d e

Sales peaked in the first quarter of this year. Energy costs increased signif icantly last year. Unemployment has risen steadily for the last two years. Share prices have fallen slightly this year. Interest rates have stayed the same for two years.

f

Profits dropped sharply last year.

14.2 Complete the sentences with the correct form

of the verb in brackets. It may be necessary to change the verb to a noun. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Sales vt '?..