Words for technology, and describing change
You can compare two figures correctly and describe a change with the right word for its size and speed.
Academic Writing Task 1 often shows figures that change over time. A report on them needs two kinds of grammar: one compares a figure with another, as in cheaper or the most popular, and the other says how a figure moved, as in rose sharply.
You will use both in Speaking as well, whenever you compare now with the past. First come the technology words that the rest of this unit is built on.
Warm-up
How big a change?
Read the two figures, then choose the phrase that describes the change best.
Read thisIn 2021, 12% of bus passengers in one city paid their fare by phone. In 2022, 55% did.
Which phrase describes this change best?
Words for technology
Devices and the internet
A phone, tablet, laptop or other piece of electronic equipment. Most of the devices in our house are more than five years old.
A program you use on a phone or tablet. I pay for the bus with an app.
A fast internet connection at home or at work. Villages far from a town often have slow broadband.
Watch or listen over the internet without keeping a copy. We stream most films now and hardly ever buy DVDs.
Copy something from the internet to your device, and send something from your device to the internet. Upload your essay before midnight.
Connect to the internet. My grandmother went online for the first time at 75.
Technology in daily life
Time spent looking at a phone, computer or TV. Many parents set a limit on their children's screen time.
The ability to use computers, phones and the internet. The library runs free classes in digital skills.
Need something and depend on it. Many drivers rely on their phones for directions.
Stay in contact with someone you do not see often. Video calls help me keep in touch with my cousins abroad.
In person, in the same place. Before a noun it takes hyphens: a face-to-face meeting. Some conversations are easier face to face.
Old, and no longer the newest or most useful. My laptop is so out of date that it can't run the new software.
Grammar: comparing and describing change
An Academic Task 1 report does two things with figures. It compares one figure with another, and it says how a figure changed over time. Each job has its own grammar.
Comparing
cheap, cheaper, the cheapest. A final -y becomes i: easy, easier, the easiest. Phones are smaller than tablets.
popular, more popular, the most popular. This is the most popular app in our office.
good, better, the best; bad, worse, the worst. The new model has a better camera than the old one.
much, far or slightly before the comparative, or twice as ... as. The laptop costs twice as much as the tablet.
Describing change
rise, increase, grow or fall, drop, decline, followed by sharply, steadily, gradually or slightly. Online sales rose sharply after the shop launched its app.
The same idea as a noun: a sharp rise, a steady fall, a gradual increase. There was a slight drop in 2023.
peak (at): reach the highest point. level off (at): stop rising or falling. overtake: go past another figure. Sales of the first model peaked in its second year.
To gives the new figure. By gives the size of the change. The price fell by £50, to £250.
Mistakes that cost marks
- more cheaper, more easier: use -er or more, never both. Write cheaper, easier, more expensive.
- the most high: short words take -est. Write the highest.
- rose sharp, a sharply rise: an adverb goes with a verb, and an adjective with a noun. Write rose sharply or a sharp rise.
- rised, falled: both verbs are irregular. Write rose and fell, or has risen and has fallen.
- The figure raised to 40%: raise needs an object, as in The company raised its prices. A figure that goes up by itself rises.
- higher then before: after a comparative, write than.
Watch me do one
A yearly survey asks adults in one country how long they spend on video calls each week. The average was 1 hour in 2019, 6 hours in 2021 and 4 hours in 2025.
First I name the movement. It went up fast, reached a top point, then came part of the way down.
Up fast is a sharp rise, and the top point is a peak. So I write: Time spent on video calls rose sharply, peaking at 6 hours a week in 2021.
The fall is smaller and slower: It then fell to 4 hours by 2025. I use to, because 4 is the new figure.
Then I compare the first and last years: People spent four times as long on video calls in 2025 as in 2019.
What I avoid is rose sharp or more higher. Sharply belongs with the verb, and higher does the comparing without help.
Practice with Elita7 questions
Seven short questions on the words and the grammar, easiest first.
Which form?
Choose the correct comparative for this sentence.
Tablets are usually ______ than laptops.
Staying in contact
Complete the sentence with one word.
My grandparents live in another country, so we use video calls to in touch.
Write no more than 1 word.
Which word fits?
One word fits the sentence better than the others. Read to the end before you choose.
Our village is ten kilometres from the nearest town, so the ______ is slow and video calls keep freezing.
The best of three
Write the correct form of good, with any other word it needs.
Of the three phones I tried, this one has camera.
Write no more than 2 words.
Find the mistake
These sentences describe one set of figures. One has a grammar mistake. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
To or by?
Fill each gap with one word. The first gap gives the new figure. The second gives the size of the change.
Weekly screen time rose from 10 hours 25 hours, so it rose 15 hours.
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Words for movement
Match each word to the movement it describes.
Use it
Then and now
Write three or four sentences about one piece of technology you use more, or less, than you did five years ago.
Choose one piece of technology in your life, such as a device, an app, streaming or video calls. Compare how you used it five years ago with how you use it now, and describe the change. Use one comparative, one trend word with the right preposition, and two technology words from this lesson.
0 / 45 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Before you go
Use -er or more, never both: cheaper, more popular.
Put an adverb after a verb and an adjective before a noun: rose sharply, a sharp rise.
Write to before the new figure and by before the size of the change.
Choose the trend word for the size and speed of the change, and learn the past forms rose, fell and grew.
Next: Next, you read a passage about public libraries and find the paragraph that contains each piece of information.