Task 1 — the language of change
The verbs of change
- Up: rise, increase, climb, grow, go up; and steeply — soar, rocket, surge.
- Down: fall, decrease, decline, drop, go down; and steeply — plummet, plunge, slump.
- Neither: level off, plateau, remain stable, stay constant, hold steady.
- Up and down: fluctuate, vary, be erratic.
- The turn: peak at, reach a high of, bottom out, hit a low of.
Match each verb to the movement it describes.
Using the precise verb is worth more on Lexical resource than adding an adverb to a vague one.
The prepositions are where the marks go
- rise BY 20 — the size of the change.
- rise TO 20 — where it ended.
- rise FROM 10 TO 30 — both, in one phrase.
- a rise OF 20 — the noun form takes of.
- ⚠ increased of 20%, increased to 20% when you mean by, and rise from 10 until 30 are the three most frequent errors in Chinese candidates' Task 1s, and each is marked as an accuracy error.
Sales went from 40 to 60. Which sentence is correct?
'By' gives the size of the change (20); 'to' would give the end point (60). 'Of' goes with the noun — 'a rise of 20'.
Per cent and percentage point
- A rise from 20% to 24% is a rise of 4 percentage points.
- It is also a rise of 20%, because 4 is a fifth of 20.
- ⚠ Writing "a rise of 4%" for that change is a factual error, not a style choice, and an examiner reads it as inaccuracy.
- When you are not sure, use from 20% to 24% — it cannot be wrong.
Unemployment went from 6% to 9%. How big was the rise?
3 percentage points. It is also a rise of 50%, because 3 is half of 6 — but writing 'a rise of 3%' is a factual error.
Comparison and approximation
- Comparison: twice as many as, three times the figure for, by far the largest, slightly higher than, roughly the same as, half the level of.
- Approximation: just over, just under, nearly, around, approximately, a little more than.
- Proportion: a third of, two thirds of, the vast majority of, a small minority of.
- Use approximation deliberately. Just under a quarter is better English than 24.3%, and it shows you selected rather than copied.
The figure is 24.3%. Which is the better Task 1 sentence?
Approximation shows you selected rather than copied, and it reads as natural English. Quote the exact figure only when the precision matters.
Turn a verb into a noun, and vary the sentence
- Sales rose sharply → there was a sharp rise in sales.
- The figure fell steadily → a steady fall in the figure.
- Having both forms is what "grammatical range" means on a Task 1: the same fact, two structures.
- Pair it with the adverbs — sharply, steadily, gradually, dramatically, slightly, marginally — and one chart can be described in a dozen ways without repeating a sentence pattern.
Rewrite with a noun: 'The figure fell steadily.' → 'There was a steady ___ in the figure.'
'Fall' is the noun of 'fall'; 'decline' and 'drop' work too. Having both forms is what grammatical range means here.