Desccribing Trends

Best Practices: 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

To climb
To rise
To go up
To improve
To pick up
To recover
To increase
To reach a peak

Downward Movement

To fall
To decline
To bottom out
To decrease
To drop
To plummet
To deteriorate
To hit a low
To slip back
To do down

Horizontal Movement

To even out
To remain stable
To stabilize

Part 2

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

Speed of Change

Rapid - Rapidly
Slow - Slowly
Sudden - Suddenly
Sharp - Sharply
Steady - Steadily
Gradual - Gradually
Fast - Quickly

Size of Change

Noticeable - Noticeably
Substantial - Substantially
Considerable - Considerably
Slight - Slightly
Significant - Significantly
Dramatic - Dramatically
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
Caused
Resulted in
Explains
Accounts for
That is why
Consequently
So
Thanks to
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