Describing Trends, Graphs and Changes

In business and everyday English, you sometimes have to describe changes in trends (movement or
tendency), graphs, and diagrams.

In the business context, you may have to describe trends in reports, meetings, and presentations. In
everyday life, you could describe changes in any subject because things change all the time!

Describing changes and trends generally consists of three parts:

 Use a verb (or an adjective and a noun) to describe movement.
 Describe the speed or size of the movement.
 Explain the reason or consequence of the change.

You can also view it this way: Verb + Speed or Size + Result/Reason/Consequence

Example 
In 2011, Samsung's profits increased considerably thanks to its successful Galaxy S series.

Part 1
Here are some verbs you can use to describe change and movement.

Upward Movement Downward Movement

To climb To fall Horizontal Movement
To rise To decline To even out
To go up
To bottom out To remain stable
To improve
To pick up To decrease To stabilize
To recover To drop To level off
To jump To plummet
To rocket To deteriorate
To increase
To hit a low
To reach a peak
To slip back

Part 2
Here are some adjectives and adverbs you can use to describe the speed and size of change.

Speed of Change Size of Change

Rapid - Rapidly Noticeable - Noticeably
Slow - Slowly Substantial - Substantially
Sudden - Suddenly Considerable - Considerably
Sharp - Sharply Slight - Slightly
Steady - Steadily Significant - Significantly 
Gradual - Gradually Dramatic - Dramatically
Fast - Quickly Negligible - Negligibly

Part 3
Here are some expressions you can use to express reason, consequence, and result:

 As a result of  Due to  Because of

 Was the reason for  Explains  Consequently
 Caused  Accounts for  So
 Resulted in  That is why  Thanks to
These are some time expressions you can use:

 In January / In 2011
 In Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Q4 (In the first quarter / second quarter / third quarter / fourth quarter)
 From January to March

Examples
 Apple's sales increased significantly due to the launch of the iPhone 4.
[verb + adverb construction]
 There was a significant increase in Apple's sales due to the launch of the iPhone 4.
[adjective + noun (word) construction]
 Our turnover remained stable in January and February. However, in March and April, it dropped
suddenly as a result of the financial crisis.
[verb + adverb construction]
 In March and April, there was a sudden drop in our turnover as a result of the financial crisis.
[adjective + noun (word) construction]

Exercises
Choose the correct description for each graph:

1. At the end of the first year sales stood at 50 per cent of the present level.
2. The share price reached peak before falling a little and then levelled off.
3. The value of shares has shown a steady decline.
4. The level of investment rose suddenly.
5. There has been a steady increase in costs ver several years.
6. The Research and Development budget has stabilized over the past few years.
7. Sales of product “A” fell slightly in the final quarter.
8. The sudden collapse in share prices has surprised everyone.