Numbers and % ( per cent )

• 10% of the people in the survey ……
• There was a 20% increase in……..
• 10% more people drink coca-cola than pepsi…
• 33% = a third,  32% = almost a third
• 50% = half,               
• 66% = two thirds       64% = nearly two thirds
• 100% more people = twice as many
• 50% less people = half as many

Writing about trends

• There was a 10% increase in sales = sales rose by 10%
• There was a £3,000 increase in sales = sales rose by £3,000
• There was a 45% reduction ( decrease ) in income = income fell by 45 %
• There was a £500 reduction in price = the price fell by £500

Words to describe increases and decrease

Verbs

• ­  to increase, rise, go up, ¯  to decrease, fall, go down, drop
• to fluctuate, go up and down

Nouns

• ­ an increase, a rise, a decrease, a fall, a drop, a fluctuation

Suitable adjectives & adverbs

• slight, steady, sharp, dramatic              slightly, steadily, dramatically

…in combination

• Sales fell sharply in 1998 but there was a slight increase in 1999.

• There was a dramatic fall in exports from 1993 to 1996, and it has been fluctuating since then.