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February 13, 2020

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I think it is halves

I think:
- The number of x halved
- The number of x reduced by half
- The number of x decreased to half
- The number of x is decreased by half

- There was a half of x decreased

a) Halved, from 10 to 5
b) decreased by one half, from 10 to 5
c) fell from 10 to 5, a one-half times decrease

The price is reduced by half.
The price is reduced to half.
Both are fine, although in my experience it's almost always "by half."

Simon,

Sorry this is a bit off-topic question.
Can I use the phrases "subtle change" or "saw an uptick in both local and foreign tourism"?

I know both means a small change and I use these in speaking but I am not sure if these are "acceptable" or appropriate to use in IELTS Task 1.

Thanks

The number of X halved/ decreased by a half
There was/ were half as... as/ compared to

Yves

As the graphs below show, 'uptick' is a relatively modern word (hardly used at all before 1960), and more common in US books, than British. In fact, I had never heard of it until a few years ago. 'Increase' and 'growth' are far, far common.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=uptick%3Aeng_us_2012%2Cuptick%3Aeng_gb_2012%2C+increase%3Aeng_us_2102%2C+growth%3Aeng_us_2012&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cuptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Buptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BUptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BUPTICK%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cuptick%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cincrease%3Aeng_us_2102%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bincrease%3Aeng_us_2102%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BIncrease%3Aeng_us_2102%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cgrowth%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bgrowth%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BGrowth%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BGROWTH%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=uptick%3Aeng_us_2012%2Cuptick%3Aeng_gb_2012&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cuptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Buptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BUptick%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BUPTICK%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cuptick%3Aeng_gb_2012%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=subtle+change%2C+*_ADJ+change&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Csubtle%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B.t2%3B%2C%2A_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bgreat_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsocial_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsudden_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Blittle_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bradical_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bimportant_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bcomplete_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bchemical_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsuch_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bsignificant_ADJ%20change%3B%2Cc0

I would read 'subtle change' as being one that is not obvious at first glance.

Yves

Also 'uptick' is defined in Wiktionary as being "A small increase or upward change in something that has been steady or declining."

And I see Cambridge now list "down-tick" too, although this is rejected by the spell-checker! These words are quite new. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/downtick

X saw a decrease. From 10 to 5.

FROM SIMON:

Here are the two phrases that I would prefer:

1. The number of x halved.
2. The number of x fell by 50%.

...

Yves,

I agree with zsofi. I definitely wouldn't write "saw an uptick", and I probably wouldn't write about a "subtle change" in an IELTS report.

- The number of x cut in half
- There was a half decrease in x

The number of users decreased by two times.
There was a twofold decrease in the users.

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