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?
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I think it is halves
Posted by: cecilia | February 13, 2020 at 11:17
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
Posted by: Tracy Nguyen | February 13, 2020 at 12:31
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
Posted by: Prasad Gandham | February 14, 2020 at 00:32
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."
Posted by: Parviz | February 14, 2020 at 06:28
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
Posted by: Yves | February 14, 2020 at 06:31
The number of X halved/ decreased by a half
There was/ were half as... as/ compared to
Posted by: Phương | February 14, 2020 at 07:45
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.
Posted by: zsófi | February 14, 2020 at 09:57
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
Posted by: zsófi | February 14, 2020 at 10:02
X saw a decrease. From 10 to 5.
Posted by: hArPrEeT Singh | February 16, 2020 at 19:13
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.
Posted by: Simon | February 17, 2020 at 12:46
- The number of x cut in half
- There was a half decrease in x
Posted by: Yang | February 17, 2020 at 15:55
The number of users decreased by two times.
There was a twofold decrease in the users.
Posted by: reico | July 07, 2020 at 05:46