Trends, graphs and figures Trends Read the text and then study the bullet points below. he chatt shows the US stock market (Dow Jones index) for last year and the first quarter of this year ‘As can be seen from the chart, last year started on a positive note, The market rase until ate February when it almost reached the 11,000 level. But interest rates were rising, and investors decided to take profits, ‘There was a sharp fall during the month of March and the Dow bottomed out at just over 10,000. A that point investors started buying agnin ~ strong economic rumbers and global liquidity (central banks printing snoqey) offered support to the market. Over the suminer the Dow was Mat, trading im a range froct 10;300 to 10,700, The market was sinable to Break Out of this range, even though company prolits were Increasing. What was the reason? It was almost entirely due to the price of ol, which had eSlmbed dramatically from 8422 barrel atthe start of the year to 868 in August. This price rise was caused by the hurricane season In the Gulf of | Mexico and increasing tension in the Middle East. | In mid-October the markets started to rally. | ‘strongly, and yen fram 10.200 to 10,900 over just four ‘weeks. This sudden jump was as a result of comments — made by a member of the Federal Reserve. who | indicated that interest rates would soon stop rising. “This Is positive tor business as the cost of borrowing also stops going up. From November to January the ‘market remained more or less unchanged, failing to break through the February bighs. Over the last few months the market has advanced ‘again. The economic backdrop remains healthy: company profits are good, consumer spending Is up, | sud tnterest rates are close to reaching a peak. The ‘nly dark cloud isthe price of ol, which bas risen back fo the 870 level ant looks certain to go up further The next hurricane season ts approaching and production “worldwide cannot be significantly expanded. © In aay text describing trends there will be verbs and. ‘nouns of movement. Examples in this text are fal, bitlom out, be flat increase, ete. © Thomnind map opposite lists verbs of movernent. Note that words describing the same type of momen 308 often used in different contexts. For example, share prices ‘ally’ whereas profits or economies ‘grow’. Use a _gvod dictionary to check on points of usage such as this. © Note the use of verb teres inthe text: reached, were rising, had climbed, has risen, ete. There isa sutronary of vert forms and uses in the mind map opposite © A text describing trends will include many examples of lioking words, (See units 20-22.) Examples here are even ‘though, due to, aso result of and as (meanings "because’), Transitive and intransitive verbs ‘Wher using verbs of movernent it is important to know whether they are: ‘© ‘Transitive ~ needing an object ~ shown in the dietionary with aT «© Intransitive ~ used without an object ~ shown in the dictionary with an ‘T ‘othe following verbs are transitive and need an object (tke budget Wie cut / omered f raised J reduced the budget. ut these examples are wrong (no object The bvdgeteut--lowared nist rede The following verbs are intransitive and are sed without an object: Casts went down / fel declined | rose ‘But these examples are wrong (there is an object): We went doen detected ose cols ‘Many vetbs like increase andl decrease can be use both with and without objects. Adjectives and adverbs of movement ‘nthe text, sorne nouns ae qualified with adjectives (rp, sudden) and some verbs with axivetbs (irmmaticly, significantly) Adjectives used to describe movement include: sow sigit, ‘gradual, steady, quick, rapid, significant, sharp, substnetial, dramatic. Adverbs are formed by adding “ly to the adjective, and ‘ametimes one or wo other letters change as well1 TRENDS, GRAPHS AND FIGURES Upuatra 4o we increase, rise, Pais, pack vp Fale, lind, wid wp) rom pana, double, show an upward trend Rapid wpnards ip, roeeet, soar, take off Downnards 4o down, decrease, Fal, dom ip back, reduce, tomer, bring down (> lower, oat, shrink, halve, show « downward trend Reid donrmard plummet, collayse, crash, sang, Highs and lows: peak, reach a peak) ‘hottem cut, hit & low Vetatility: Ructunte, be volatile Stability: stay the same, be xt) te Grubetively unthanged) level OFF / cat Ged ad bad maycove & get better, strengthen, recover, bemnce back) deteriorate € get worse), weaken Singla points be above / below, stand at States be oe / down Gragh chart, bar chart, te chart, table, diagram Tithe, rom / cobman Guéth headings), beritontal ang Claled with manthe, vertica) ascis Ghowing the vatses for.) Curva, Solid line, dotted finn, dashed line, saguent, shasted area, Slope Céteny oF shallow? / Tete anectae tea Fis atte ance canbe ne, Action in progress Per ine taeninsg Past: sales were rising peesetranghy, Mt He, ‘A great deal wore than, vty over Somenhat were than, wall over Just over, shghtly more than Around, about, roughly, Sonanbare. tn the’ region’ of, aptoninately Amest) nearly, nat quite, jst short of Far less than, nowhere near, nothing Wee! As mach as Looking back From the present to the past: ales been risen by 6% thee year From the past to earlier in the past: sales had risen to a high level, but sm 2006. ‘the marie? began to change Looking back at an action in progress ‘Action in progress we to 4 point in the pasts sales had san citing strongly, tat then na Competitors entered the market Action in up to the presents sales tn lk oor mua} marketsQD reves graphs and figures: Exercises ‘13.1. Match each phrase on the left with its closest synonym (same meaning) on the right. 1 drop by 50% a) deteriorate 2 rise by t00% ») recover 3 get batter ©) double 4 get worse 3) raise 5. bounce back ©) expand 6 grow f) lower 7 put up 4) halve 8 ring down 1) improve 13.2 Match each verb on the left with its closest artonym (opposite meaning) on the right. 1 rise 2) plummet 2 reise by) be flat 3 take off © bottom out 4 expand ¢) fall 5 fluctuate @) lower 6 peak 4) shrink 13.3 Complete each sentence with a phrasal verb from ‘the box. “ounce back —pottem out ring down level off pick yp putup slip back take off 1 If your prices are too high, you have to them 2 if your prices are too low, you have to them 3-H sales reach their lowest level, they 4 If sales recover after 2 period of downward movement, they 5 If sales go up a litle after being fat for some time, they 6 If sales go up a lot after being flat for some time, they 7 profits were going up ~ or down = and then become stable, they 8 profits go down a litle after @ period of growth, they 13.4 Underline the correct words in italics, 11 The vetbs ‘ise’ and “grow are similar, However, rise / grow {s more common for longer periods of time, and where there isa total increase in size (eg describing the economy). 2 The phrasal verb ‘grow up" refers to the change from boeing a child 10 being an adult It can also / cannot be Used to refer to things ike profits, the economy, 3. The phrasal verb ‘fall down’ refers to movement towards the ground It can also / cannot be used to refer to things lice sales. profits 4 We can “aise / lower’ prices or ‘put up bring down’ prices, However, the first two examples / last two examples ate slightly more formal, and can refer to @ change in the level or standard of something as well as prices 13.5 Puta tick (V) if the sentence is possible. Put 9 ross (3) if it is not. The answers depend on whsther the verb is transitive, intransitive o both. 1 We cut costs by 5%. t We fell costs by 5%, [ Profits cut by 5%. L Profits fell by 5% c We raised prices by 2%. We rose prices by 2%. Inflation raised by 2%. Inflation rose by 2%. 9. Weincreased sales by 4% 10 Sales increased by 4% 11 Wewent up market share by 3% 12. Market share went up by 39% oor 13.6 The -ing form of many verbs can be used as.an adjective, eg an increasing demand for oil. Make adjectives from the verbs in the box using the information in brackets. expand grow 1 a__shiinking __udget (decreasing in size) ‘ise shine soar 2a ___ business (increasing in size) 3a — problem ‘increasing over along period) inflation (increasing) 5 ______ costs (teaching a very high eve) 13.7 Fill in the missing letters in these adverbs using the information in brackets. Sales increased 1 raid _ly (quickly) 2 or ly (slowly and by small amounts) ast ily (in 8 constant, regular way) 4 sii by (ite) 5 marl (fractionally) 6 sig. ly (in a large and noticeable way) 7 sh Jy (suddeniy and by a large amount) 8 dr lly (suddenly and surprisingly) Note that ‘dramatically’ can refer to both good and bad changos (unlike in many Latin languages),13.8 Puna tick (v) if the sentence makes sense. Put a cross (1) if It does not, 1 Profits have risen steadily over recent years. [] 2 Sales plummeted marginally in July [_] 3 The price of oi soared gradually last year. [_] 4. Share prices dropped back slightly last week. [—] 5 Unemployment numbers levelled out sharply. [_] ‘13 TRENDS, GRAPHS AND FIGURES 13.12 Itis very common to use approximate figures ~ particularly in speech. Match each approximate figure ‘a)-p) to an exact figure 1-6 below. €@) just over 150 i) far less than 150 b) around 150 i) way, way over 150 ©) ust short of 150k) nowhere near 150 ) roughly 150 1) slightly more than 150 e} not quite 150, m)somewhat more than 150 13.9 Write the nouns for these verbs. Sometimes the 1) almost 150 1) 150 give or take a litte form is the same. 9) some 150 0) somewhere in the region of 150 om a 6 impwowe hi) 150 or 90 p} nothing like asimuch as 150 2 deteriorate —____ 7 increase 190 O09 3 fal recwer_______ | 2 146 Ooo 4 grow 9 reduce ae Bt 5 hahe —— 10 ise = || oe a 5 240 6 13.10 Rewrite the ‘verb + adverb’ sentences as swooio OOOO “Sema slrratcee- 13.13 Fill in the gaps with a preposition where 1 Sales felsighty necessary (in one case there is no preposition). Choose There was a Sgt fol —_— in sales. from: at, between, down, from, in, into, of, on, to, with. 2 Profits rose steal. 1 Last year sales rose em €7.5m. 50 We saw a in profits that’ an increase €0.5m, 3. The economy improved gradually. 2 Last year there was an increase sales ‘There was a —___ —— inthe economy. 8%. 4 We need to reduce costs sharply. 3 Our market share now stands 28%. We need to see a _—— in costs 4 One tive (= one out of every five) of our 13.11 Underline the correct words. 1 Fike you to look at the biue segment on this next bar chart 1 pie chart. 2 Io ike to draw your attention to the hasaing / ttle at the top of each column of this table, 3 I'm sorry, the heading / title of this next side is off the screen, but at least you can see the graph 4 The horizontal axis is marked with / labeled with the months of the year 5 Sales growth has been very rapid ~ as you can see from the steep / shallow slope of this graph 1 Prepare two graphs. They could be about your company (Sales, profits, costs, ete) or your country (inflation, Unemployment, house prices, ec). You could take graphs from an artcie on the Internet or in print, in English or in | yourona language Rerembe foe the wo ae | = Speaking practice | Tela partner about he graphs. You partner should ask for mare information (eg ‘Im sorry can YOU explain that again?” ‘What were the reasons for that?) products never makes a profit 5. Tworrllin euros were spent on television advertising {6 Unemployment figures have been relatively stable for some time, fluctuating 4.3% and 4.6% 7 There hasn't been much movement —__ the ‘unemployment figures for some time 8 Sales rose ine predictions 9. From January 1st to now, Sales have gone up by €0.5m So that’s a year ___-ate increase of 8% 10 Over the last twelve months, sales have gone up by 4€0.5m. So that’s a year year increase Of 8% 11 In this pie chart, sales are broken —__by gion, 12 In this pie chart, the whole county is divided five regions. ‘© Speaking practice 2. Regroup and work with a new partner ~ you are going to repeat the exercise and explain ‘the graphs again. Ths time speak slowly and focus on accuracy rather than fluency, Take a moment to review pages 56-57 before you begin, ‘© Writing practice. Write a short repart based on the two graphs.