Describing Change

Essay questions often ask you to compare the past to the present, or the present to the future. To do this effectively, you need to master the language of change. Look at this example:

The internet has transformed the way that we socialise.

This is vocabulary for different types of change.

Big Changes

Dramatic / Dramatically

There has been a dramatic rise in the number of students who study abroad.

The number of students who study abroad has risen dramatically.

Transform / Transformation

Internet and mobile phone technologies have transformed working life. 

There will be a transformation in the way that children learn.

Radical Shift

In recent years, there has been a radical shift in the way people think about the environment. 

Small Changes

A Slight Shift

There has been a slight shift in people’s attitudes towards recreational drug use.

An adjustment

There only need to be adjustments made to the healthcare system. (Nb. ‘only’ works well with this phrase)

Negative Changes

Decline

There has been a decline in the number of people who consume traditional media. 

The number of people who consume traditional media is declining.

(Progressively) Getting Worse

It can be argued that the healthcare system is progressively getting worse.

Speed of Change

Rate / Pace of Change 

Not everyone is happy with this rate of change and many would prefer that there were fewer new developments built in town centres. 

Fast

Rapid / Rapidly

There has been a rapid change in people’s attitudes towards the environment.

The number of English speakers worldwide is growing rapidly. 

Medium

Gradual / Gradually

There has been a gradual move towards shopping online. 

Gradually more people are shopping online. 

Slow

Slow But Steady / Slowly But Steadily

There has been a slow but steady rise in the number of women who want to study engineering.

Slowly but steadily more and more people are doing their shopping in out of town supermarkets and this is changing town centers. 

Ø Look at these example sentences.

In recent years there has been a radical shift in the way people think about the environment. 

There has been a slight shift in attitudes towards immigration and more people believe that it can benefit their country. 

There need to be some adjustments made to the education system.

Not everyone is happy with this rate of change because it is destabilizing communities. 

It is unrealistic to expect this to occur rapidly as first of all attitudes towards air travel have to change. 

Slowly but steadily more and more business people are willing to live abroad. 

This change has been a gradual process as it has taken people some time to get used to the idea of shopping online. 

Over the last twenty the Vietnamese economy has grown dramatically. 

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