USEFUL VOCABULARY FOR REPORTS:

Show: demonstrate, illustrate, provide information on, map out, highlight, outline, detail, reveal,
compare

Go up: increase, rise, raise, trend up, spike, jump, bump, boost, balloon, grow, expand, boom,
climb, escalate, swell, top out

Go down: decrease, lower, lessen, trend down, fall, dip, bottom out, decline, contract, drop,
dive, reduce, diminish, dwindle, drain, shrink, subside, taper off, wane

Increase (noun): rise, gain, expansion

Decrease (noun): drop, reduction, fall, loss, dip, decline, shrinkage

Degree: dramatic(ally), significant(ly), abrupt(ly), sudden(ly), marked(ly), gradual(ly), gentle(_ly),

steady(ily), slow(ly), even(ly), stable

Top: peak, high, maximum, (at its) height

Bottom: valley, low, minimum

Incomplete: percentage, fraction, portion, part

Relativity: to a certain degree, to a certain extent

Change: fluctuate, vary

Geography: country, nation, state, city municipality town village,

rural = countryside; urban = city; suburban = between city and countryside

Process; stage, step, level, phase

Time: annual/yearly = every year; biennual (also biannual) = every two years OR twice a year;
10 years = a decade, 100 years = a century, 1000 years = a millennium; every day = daily,
every week = weekly, every month = monthly, every other day = every two days = every second
day
Changes/comparisons with numbers: 2 double, twice as many/much/large, twice the
number/amount, increased/grew twofold, two times more/larger/the size/etc. 3 tripled; 4
quadrupled; 5 (and higher) five times as many five times more/larger/etc. Closeness: Nearly,
almost, about, approximately, around

Percent vs. Percentage: Percent is always used with a number. It cannot stand alone in a
sentence.

For example: correct: 5 percent of audiences rank X highly; incorrect: More percent of
audiences rank Y highly. Percent is always a rate, and so needs to be used with a number (out
of a hundred: per = for every; cent = hundred) Percentage is a noun. When you want to
compare rates, you can use this noun as the thing being compared.

For example: A higher percentage of Americans think that the government is a doing a bad job
than those who think it is doing a good job. (Notice here that we are comparing percentage of
Americans with those. In this case we are using percentage in the same way as numbers,
though we are actually comparing Americans.) With both percent and percentage, make sure
that you are talking about rates, not actual figures (numbers). If the table or chart you are
looking at provides information in numbers, refer to those numbers. If it provides percentages,
refer to the percentages.

Amount vs. Number (of): These are not interchangeable nouns. They are specifically used
with countable (number) and uncountable (amount) nouns to express groupings. Canadians
spend a large amount of money on eating out; time outdoors; their energy on philanthropic
gestures. Students must utilize a large number of resources in order to complete their
assignments; methods to do their research; tools that are specific to their area of study. Quantity
can be used for both countable and uncountable nouns, yet this word does not sound as
natural in the sentences above.
Ranges: You will have to express many range types in reports. Whether its ages, changes over
time, minimums and maximums, or any other range, there is specific language with which to do
this: Between X and Y From X to Y From X until Y Since X until Y What is important to
remember here is that these structures cannot be mixed. For example, do not write between X
to Y. If you want to express change over a long period of time: Over the course/span of six
decades, the number of houses in the suburbs of Toronto have quadrupled. During the six
decades from 19402000, the number of houses in the suburbs of Toronto quadrupled. The last
sixty years have seen a significant rise in housing construction