IELTS- Language of Trends- Similarities and Differences
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Language of trends phrases which are similar and different
Lesson Plan Content:
Language of trends similarities and differences
IELTS Academic Writing Task One/ Business English
Similarities
What is the similarity between all the words and expressions in each section below? (It could be in meaning when used to talk about trends, original sources or meanings, or anything else)
A
soar dive
take off soft landing
crash rocket
turbulence plummet
B
grow expand
shrink
C
plunge dive
buoyant
D
turbulent unstable
fluctuate volatile
E
flatten out bottom out
level off stable/ stabilize
steady
F
peak/ reach a peak bottom out
a new high/ low an all time high/ low
G
recover bounce back
V-shaped recession U-shaped recession
pick up
H
halved doubled
tripled dropped by a third
I
escalate deteriorate
slump
J
improve recover
ameliorate augment
buoyant
K
bounce back rebound
L
boom explode
M
raise cut
slash
Differences
What are the differences between the pairs of words and expressions on the same line?
- grow/ grow up
- fall slightly/ fall sharply
- rise/ raise
- remain steady/ rise steadily
- significant decline/ steady decline
- escalate/ improve
- rise/ rise up
- decrease dramatically/ decrease rapidly
- fall/ fall down
- rose by a third/ tripled
- just over a third/ almost a third
- just under a third/ around (= approximately/ about) a third
- rose to 20%/ rose by 20%
- an increase/ to increase (pronunciation)
- fall from 2000/ fall to 2000
- fall/ fall back
Why?
“Shoot up”, but not “rocket up”?
“Go up”, but not “rise up”?
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Answer key
Similarities
A – All connected to flying
B – All connected to getting bigger or smaller
C – All connected to water
D – All mean go up and down
E – All mean become flat
F – All mean reach a limit
G – All mean reach a limit and then go the other way
H – All connected to numbers
I – All have negative meanings
J – All have positive meanings
K – All connected to balls
L – All connected to explosions
M – All used with a subject who is doing the action rather than changing
Differences
- grow/ grow up – grow up means become an adult
- fall slightly/ fall sharply – the second one is a faster fall
- rise/ raise – the first is a change, the second is used about the person causing that change
- remain steady/ rise steadily – the first means flat
- significant decline/ steady decline – the first is an amount, the second describes a straight line
- escalate/ improve – the first in negative
- rise/ rise up – the second means a (literal) revolution
- decrease dramatically/ decrease rapidly – the second is more extreme
- fall/ fall down – the second is a physical thing, so not used for trends
- rose by a third/ tripled – the second is greater, the first just means 33.3%
- just over a third/ almost a third – almost a third means just under
- just under a third/ around (= approximately/ about) a third – the second could be over
- rose to 20%/ rose by 20% - the first means the new value is 20%, the second is the change is 20%
- an increase/ to increase (pronunciation) – the first is stressed on the first syllable
- fall from 2000/ fall to 2000 – the second is the new position
- fall/ fall back – the second shows that it was rising before
Why?
“Shoot up”, but not “rocket up”?
“Go up”, but not “rise up”?
words that always mean “up” don’t need “up”
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