Style - Describe Change

These phrases were originally written to help describe figures and tables when they refer to change. However, they can be used to describe any change.

Verb based phrases

1 |2 |3
—————–|—————–|—————– X has become |less |common X became |somewhat |frequent X is |quite |rapid |more |serious |increasingly |large

Noun options

1	2	3
There has been a	large	increase in X
There was a	small	rise in X
There is likely to be	slow	fall in X
This indicates a	sudden	plateau in x
This shows an	immediate	rise in X
Table 2 reveals a	startling	doubling of X
Figure 3 suggests a	slight	spike in X
The table above predicts a	gradual	rise in X
There is a	slight	decrease in X
	steady	upswing in X
		reduction in X
		collapse of the X
		slump in X
		drop in X
		decline in X

Verb options

1	2	3
the X	leveled off	slightly
the percentage of X	plateaued	slowly
the amount of X	went flat	immediately
the value of X	went up	almost instantly
the cost of X	has increased	gradually
the number of X	increased	startlingly
the degree to which X	has risen	suddenly
the quality of X	rose	slightly
the quantity of X	decreased
the X rate	fell	at once
the estimate of X	has fallen	steadily
predicted levels of X	halved	from its high in 2015
	doubled	, causing surprise
	tripled	over a period of 2 years
	quadrupled	virtually overnight
	plummeted	to its lowest level since records began
	remained stable	at its previous level
	stayed steady	at 120

For most verbs you can also add an adverb BEFORE the verb

• the value of X immediately fell
• the value of X steadily increased
• the value of X suddenly halved
• the value of X gradually halved

Optional - describe the change in detail

1	2	3
has increased	to	33%
has increased	from	22% to 33%
has increased	from around	20% to 33%
has increasde	by	11%