IELTS Writing Task 1: the opposite of 'doubled'?

You probably know how to describe a 'double' increase. For example:

• The number of x doubled.
• There was a twofold increase in x.

But how do we express the opposite e.g. a decrease from 10 to 5?

Comments

[cecilia]

I think it is halves

[Tracy Nguyen]

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

[Prasad Gandham]

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

[Parviz]

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."

[Yves]

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

[Phương]

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

[zsófi]

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.

[zsófi]

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

[hArPrEeT Singh]

X saw a decrease. From 10 to 5.

[Simon]

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.

[Yang]

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

[reico]

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