IELTS Writing Task 1 gives you a chart or a diagram. Then, it asks you to write an essay with at least 150 words to describe the given chart. That’s why we need to add more words related to figures and trends to our vocabulary. Do you know that there are up to 20 verbs describing downward trend?
In this article, we will give you full information about such words. This will help you know more different words you can use in your writings. That can bring you closer to achieving lexical resource points – which accounts for 25% of total points. At the end of the article, we will share some tips that can help you remember these words. With these tips, you don’t have to worry about forgetting vocabulary due to exam stress.
What makes eJOY’s list of 20 words describing downward trend different
Instead of giving you a list of words with their meanings, we’ve been working hard to put in other necessary information. We also give you some examples of how you can use these words. Putting these words and phrases in certain context will help you recognize the differences between them. As a result, you will remember them more easily. This table includes:
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Pronunciation
If you know how to write words, but don’t know how to pronounce them you will still easily forget those words, and won’t be able to use them in formal presentations or even in daily conversations. That would definitely be a waste.
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English definition
When we learn new English words, we tend to look up for only the meaning in our mother tongue. That habit is bad for the language learning process, as you can only learn English with your first language mindset. That would be a major block to making your lexicon broader and knowing how to use words.
It’s important to remember that Vietnamese and English are two different languages coming from different cultures. It can be hard to fully understand the meaning of a word and use them fluently. To be able to do that, you should learn both English definition and your mother tongue meaning.
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Past form of verbs
The data you see in IELTS Writing Task 1 are usually taken from the past. That means you need to pay attention to tenses of the verbs.
Some verbs in English are irregular verbs. That means the past form of them is not the original verb with an “-ed” suffix like the regular verbs. For instance, the past form of “sink” is “SANK”. Adding past forms of the verbs reminds you to pay attention to irregular verbs.
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Examples
The final column of the table includes examples of how to use these words. This part helps you use the words correctly and naturally like native speakers. So don’t miss this important section.
20 verbs describing downward trend
| No. | Words | Pronunciation | English definition | Past form | Example |
| 1 | decline | US UK /dɪˈklaɪn/ | to become less, worse, or lower in value | declined | Milk production could decline by 15% or more in the late summer months. |
| 2 | decrease | UK /dɪˈkriːs/
US /ˈdiː.kriːs/ |
to become less, or to make something become less | decreased | The country’s total exports decreased by 6% in 2009. |
| 3 | drop | UK /drɒp/
US /drɑːp/ |
to move or change to a lower level, or to make something lower or less | dropped | The temperature dropped nearly 50 degrees in 24 hours. |
| 4 | fall | UK /fɔːl/
US /fɑːl/ |
to become lower in size, amount, or strength | fell | Salaries in the public sector are expected to fall by 15 percent this year. |
| 5 | go down | UK /ɡəʊ daʊn/
US /ɡoʊ daʊn/ |
to be reduced in price, value, amount, quality,level, or size | went down | The company’s shares went down 7p to 53p. |
| 6 | plummet | UK /ˈplʌm.ɪt/
US /ˈplʌm.ɪt/ |
to go down in amount or value very quickly and suddenly | plummeted | plummet (by) sth
First-half advertising revenues plummeted 13%, compared with the same period a year ago. |
| 7 | plunge | UK /plʌndʒ/
US /plʌndʒ/ |
to go down in amount or value very quickly and suddenly | plunged | 1) plunge to sth
Share prices plunged $16.74, or 44%, to $20.51 a share. 2) plunge by sth The Dow was 40 points ahead, having plunged by 60 points shortly after the opening bell. 3) plunge from sth Visitor numbers plunged from 25 million in 2010 to 22.8million – but they are now recovering. |
| 8 | reduce | UK /rɪˈdjuːs/
US /rɪˈduːs/ |
to make something less in price, size, amount | reduced | 1) reduce sth by sth
The bank planned to reduce its staff levels by around 20% by 2012. 2) reduce sth from sth to sth The reorganization will reduce the number of managers from 15 to no more than 8. |
| 9 | slip | UK /slɪp/
US /slɪp/ |
to become worse, lower, or less in value | slipped | slip (from sth) to sth
1) February crude oil slipped 1¢ to $18.96 a barrel. 2) The proportion of shares held by UK individuals slipped from 14% to 13% last year. |
| 10 | dip | UK /dɪp/
US /dɪp/ |
to go down to a lower level, often by a small amount or for a short time | dipped | 1) House prices are likely to dipin the first three months of the year.
2) dip from sth to sth Employment gains dipped from 2.6% to only 1.7%. 3) Group sales dipped by 4% last quarter. |
| 11 | slump | UK /slʌmp/
US /slʌmp/ |
to fall suddenly in price, amount, or value | slumped | Home computer sales slumped dramatically last year. |
| 12 | crash | UK /kræʃ/
US /kræʃ/ |
to suddenly lose value, in a way that is serious | crashed | crash from sth to sth
Its share price has crashed from nearly £7 in November to just £0.50. |
| 13 | sink | UK /sɪŋk/
US /sɪŋk/ |
if prices, profits, shares, etc. sink, they fall to a lower level | sank /sæŋk/ | 1) Bond prices sank and stocks rose today.
2) sink to sth The dollar sankto a record low against the euro. 3) Shares sank 3% Wednesday to close at $39.35. |
| 14 | tumble | UK /ˈtʌm.bəl/
US /ˈtʌm.bəl/ |
to fall a lot in value in a short time | tumbled | Share prices tumbled yesterday. |
| 15 | shrink | UK /ʃrɪŋk/
US /ʃrɪŋk/ |
to become smaller, or to make something smaller | shrank | 1) The company’s profits have shrunk from $5.5 million to $1.25 million.
2) The productivity improvements have shrunk our costs by 25 percent. |
| 16 | lessen | UK /ˈles.ən/
US /ˈles.ən/ |
to make something smaller, less noticeable | lessened | Corporate executives are keen to embrace “green technology” in order to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels. |
| 17 | lower | UK /ˈləʊ.ər/
US /ˈloʊ.ɚ/ |
to reduce the level, price, etc. of something | lowered | Landmark legislation requires California to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020. |
| 18 | deplete | UK /dɪˈpliːt/
US /dɪˈpliːt/ |
to reduce something in size or amount, especially supplies of energy, money, etc. | depleted | If we continue to deplete the earth’s natural resources, we will cause serious damage to the environment. |
| 19 | diminish | UK /dɪˈmɪn.ɪʃ/
US /dɪˈmɪn.ɪʃ/ |
to reduce or be reduced in size, importance, or value | diminished | Over a period of several years, these securities diminished in value and the corporation went bankrupt. |
| 20 | collapse | UK /kəˈlæps/
US /kəˈlæps/ |
to suddenly fall to a much lower level | collapsed | 1) prices/shares collapse
Share prices collapsed after news of poor trading. 2) Without computers the whole economic system would collapse. |
References
How can you remember those verbs?
To master verbs describing downward trend, you need to:
- Write them down in your notebook
- Practice constructing sentences with those verbs
- Repeat the word learning process until you can use them fluently
However, this process might not be simple for some of you. Being too busy with work and have too little time might be the main reasons. Or maybe, you get discouraged by the boring and seemingly never-ending note taking process.
Let me share with you a very useful tip. With technology developments these days, you are just one click away from all of these steps.
My 4 steps of enhancing IELTS vocabulary
- S1 – Download eJOY Extension on Google Chrome.
- S2 – Select the new words, double click on them or click and drag to look up for your mother tongue and English definitions.
- S3 – Click +Add to save the words with the suitable meaning in your online Wordbook.
- S4 – Play games with those words regularly.
The special thing is, you don’t need to worry about when you should come back to the words. The eJOY extension already helps us do that thanks to the improved spaced repetition algorithm. When you’ve done studying some words, as you move on, the previously learned ones will soon be forgotten. The solution to that problem is simple. Just when you’re about to forget some of the words you learnt, eJOY will remind you to come back to them every day.
Not only that, our development team also links eJOY extension to Youtube videos that contain the words you’re learning. That way, you can practice using such words within the context that the natives usually use.
Download the extension and use it for free right now to start your own amazing journey!
Don’t forget to leave a comment if you have any problems with learning IELTS vocabulary.
Have a fun time studying!