In the IELTS Writing Task 1, the task gives the candidates a chart or any kinds of visualized information. It asks you to describe the given data with a 150-word essay. Therefore, in order to improve the IELTS Writing band score, what do you need to do? You need to deepen your vocabulary pot with words regarding figures and trends. Did you know that there are more than twenty upward trend verbs?
In this (rather short) article, I will give you every necessary detail about such words. These words will help you diversify your vocabulary in your writings (especially in the Writing Task 1). Lexical resource criteria will determine around one-fourth of your score in the Writing test. Don’t worry about exam stress making you forget these words. At the end of this post, I will also give you some tips to help you remember them. You will overcome it, I promise!
What makes eJOY’s 22 words describing an upward trend list different?
Nowadays, it seems that every IELTS related website has their own list of words you need to know. They all use very catchy titles to catch your attention. Yet, the basis of these lists is all the same. What makes eJOY’s list of twenty-two words regarding an upward trend is the details and the work we’ve put into it. We do not simply give you a list of words and their definitions. Instead, we give you every information you need to know about them. I will also give you some examples of how you should use these words. Every section comes with perfectly detailed contexts. That’s to help you understand different uses of them. It will help you recognize what makes a word (or phrase) different from another. As a result, you will remember them by heart. These are what our list (in table form) includes:
1. The word
Of course, I have to include the words themselves. How can I talk to you about the words if you do not know what these words are?
2. Pronunciation
Pronunciation plays an important role in learning English. Knowing how to actually pronounce the words would help you remember them. If you know how to write a word, but do not know how to pronounce it, you are more than likely to forget about it the very next day. As a result, you will not be able to utilize these precious words you have spent so much time learning about them. That would be an absolute waste of time and resources.
3. English meanings
When learning new English words, many have the tendency to look up only for the meaning in our mother tongue. In my case, in particular, that’s Vietnamese meaning. This is a bad habit for your language learning approach. You can only have the knowledge of English in your first language mindset. That would block your effort in broadening and deepening your vocabulary. That would affect as well as knowledge in using appropriate lexical resources. I personally (try to) never look up Vietnamese meaning of English words. In my opinion, you should only search for Vietnamese meaning of a word in certain cases. When you do not understand the English meaning after reading carefully, for example.
It’s important to remember that Vietnamese and English are two tremendously different languages. Vietnam and England are two different countries, with varying cultures and mindsets. Understanding the usage of a word and fluently using it might be hard. How to be able to do that, you may ask? Hence, you should have the knowledge of that word in both the English language and your first language.
4. Past form of verbs
The information and data are usually visualized in the IELTS Writing Task 1. (Most of the time in the forms of a graph or diagram.) These data are actually, for the most part, recorded in the past. That means paying attention to the correct tense of verbs in your writing is important.
There are some irregular verbs in the English language. Irregular verbs mean their past form do not follow the formula of ‘original verb’ + ‘-ed’ suffix. We usually acknowledge verbs that follow the aforementioned formula as regular verbs. Different irregular verbs have different past forms. For example, the past form of ‘go’ is ‘went’, not ‘go-ed’. The past form of ‘be (is/are)’ is ‘was/were’, not ‘is-ed’ or ‘are-ed’.
5. Examples
The final section includes examples of these words in different contexts. They range from formal presentations to casual conversations. This helps you understand how to use the words. Moreover, it explains how to speak them like native speakers. This is an important one, so do not skip it.
The eJOY’s list of 22 verbs describing an upward trend
No. | Word/Phrase | Pronunciation | English meaning | Past form | Example(s) |
1 | climb | UK /klaɪm/
US /klaɪm/ |
If a price, number, or amount climbs, it increases | climbed |
|
2 | go up | UK /ɡəʊ ʌp/
US /ɡoʊ ʌp/ |
to move higher, rise, or increase | went up |
|
3 | grow | UK /ɡrəʊ/
US /ɡroʊ/ |
to increase in size or amount | grew |
|
4 | increase | UK /ɪnˈkriːs/
US /ɪnˈkriːs/ |
to (make something) become larger in amount or size | increased |
|
5 | jump | UK /dʒʌmp/
US /dʒʌmp/ |
to increase suddenly by a large amount | jumped |
|
6 | rise | UK /raɪz/
US /raɪz/ |
to increase | rose |
|
7 | rocket | UK /ˈrɒk.ɪt/
US /ˈrɑː.kɪt/ |
to rise extremely quickly | rocketed |
|
8 | surge | UK /sɜːdʒ/
US /sɝːdʒ/ |
to increase suddenly and strongly | surged |
|
9 | take off | UK /teɪk ɒf/
US /teɪk ɑːf/ |
to suddenly increase in value or amount | took off |
|
10 | shoot up | UK /ʃuːt/
US /ʃuːt/ |
to grow in size, or increase in number or level, very quickly | shot up |
|
11 | soar | UK /sɔːr/
US /sɔːr/ |
to increase quickly in amount, number, value, or level | soared |
|
12 | leap | UK /liːp/
US /liːp/ |
to increase, improve, or grow very quickly | UK: leapt
US: leaped |
|
13 | boom | UK /buːm/
US /buːm/ |
to increase or become successful and produce a lot of money very quickly | boomed |
|
14 | bounce | UK /baʊns/ US /baʊns/ | to suddenly increase, often after falling to its lowest level | bounced |
|
15 | expand | UK /ɪkˈspænd/
US /ɪkˈspænd/ |
to increase in size, number, or importance, or to make something increase in this way | expanded |
|
16 | double | UK /ˈdʌb.əl/
US /ˈdʌb.əl/ |
to become twice as much or as many, or to make something twice as much or many | doubled |
|
17 | multiply | UK /ˈmʌl.tɪ.plaɪ/
US /ˈmʌl.tə.plaɪ/ |
to increase a lot in number or to make something do this | multiplied |
|
18 | gain | UK /ɡeɪn/
US /ɡeɪn/ |
to increase in amount or value | gained |
|
19 | raise | UK /reɪz/
US /reɪz/ |
to increase the amount, level, or quality of something | raised |
|
20 | escalate | UK /ˈes.kə.leɪt/
US /ˈes.kə.leɪt/ |
to rise or to make something rise | escalated |
|
21 | ascend | UK /əˈsend/
US /əˈsend/ |
1) to move up or climb something
2) to rise to a position of higher rank |
ascended |
|
22 | swell | UK /swel/
US /swel/ |
to become larger and rounder than usual; to (cause to) increase in size or amount | swelled |
|
Sources of references
How to actually remember these words?
Everyone wants to become proficient in these upward trend describing verbs. In order to do that, you should do these followings:
- First, jot them down in a notebook or a notepad.
- Also, practice constructing sentences with all the vocabulary.
- Finally, Repeat this learning process. (Until you remember and use the words fluently.)
Nevertheless, this process might not be simple for some. Being too busy at work and/or having too little time to actually do any study are the main reasons. Or maybe it’s the boring and seemingly never-ending note taking that kills the joy of studying new words on you.
There is a tip that I want to share with you. With the development of technology, you are just one tap away from a whole world of new lexical resources.
How to enhance IELTS vocabulary in four simple steps
Step 1: First, download the eJOY eXtension for Google Chrome.
Step 2: Second, select a new word. eJOY will automatically show you its meanings. It shows the English and your preferred language meanings of that word.
Step 3: Simply tap ‘Add’ to save the word to your personal workbook.
Step 4: eJOY provides you with various games to practice those new words. Hence, you should utilize them.
You know what the best thing about the eJOY eXtension is? You don’t need to worry about you forgetting to practice those saved words or not knowing the right time to come back to revise them. Most importantly, our product already does that by using the latest spaced repetition algorithm. Usually, when you finish learning some new words, you forget them and then move on to other new words, which is not good at all. Therefore, eJOY avoids that by reminding you to practice right before you’re about to forget them.
Moreover, eJOY games often include Youtube videos with words you are learning. As a result, you can learn to use them in certain contexts.
So what are you waiting for? Download the eJOY eXtension and learn English free right now!
Don’t forget to let us know what you think about this extension in the comment section below.