English in a Minute: Verbs to use with 'increase' | Learning English Vocabulary

📋 Summary

Introduction to Enhancing Vocabulary with 'Increase'

Expanding one's vocabulary requires more than just knowing a word; it requires understanding the specific verbs that pair naturally with it. This podcast episode focuses on the noun 'increase' and explores various ways to incorporate it into professional and casual English, ensuring that learners can describe growth or escalation with precision.

Causative Verbs: How Change Triggers an Increase

The podcast highlights that when a specific change leads to an expansion, we often use causative verbs. To express this relationship, one can say a change can 'cause an increase', 'bring about an increase', or 'entail an increase'.

'Bring about an increase': This suggests that a specific action or development has led to a measurable change. For example, the podcast notes that 'higher sales have brought about an increase in profits'.
'Entail an increase': This implies that a certain consequence is a necessary or logical result of a situation. The example provided is that 'the growth of electric vehicles could entail an increase in electricity prices', illustrating how one trend naturally necessitates another.

Observing and Experiencing Growth

When an individual or a collective group witnesses or undergoes a change, the podcast suggests using verbs related to perception or participation. Specifically, 'see' and 'experience' are the most effective verbs to use in these contexts.

'Experiencing an increase': This is used when a situation directly affects the speaker or their environment. The podcast uses the example: 'We are experiencing an increase in technical problems'.
'Seeing an increase': This is often used when analyzing data or performance. The podcast mentions, 'Looking at the results, we can see an increase in students' grades', emphasizing that this usage is ideal for summarizing observations from reports or academic findings.

Data Representation and Analytical Contexts

In formal or analytical writing, we often need to describe how data points depict growth. The podcast identifies three key verbs for this: 'show', 'reflect', and 'represent'.

'Represent an increase': This is used to define the magnitude or status of a value. The podcast notes that 'this new share price represents an increase of 50%'.
'Reflect an increase': This suggests that the data acts as a mirror for a broader reality. For instance, 'climate data reflects the increase in global temperatures', indicating that the data is evidence of a real-world phenomenon.
'Show an increase': This is the most direct way to state that the information provided clearly demonstrates a growth trend, often described as a 'steady increase'.

Conclusion

By integrating these specific verbs—whether causative, observational, or representative—learners can move beyond generic descriptions of growth. As the podcast concludes, the goal is that 'watching this video should bring about an increase in your vocabulary' and help you 'experience an increase in the number of words you can say'.

🎯Key Sentences

1

Do you want to increase your vocabulary?

2

Higher sales have brought about an increase in profits.

3

Looking at the results, we can see an increase in students' grades.

4

It just means that it tells us about the increase.

5

It shows a steady increase.

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📝Key Phrases

1

bring about

2

entail

3

experience an increase

4

reflect

5

represent

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📖 Transcript

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

You're listening to bbclearningenglish .com Do you want to increase your vocabulary?

Use these verbs with increase.

A change can cause an increase in something else.

We can also say it can bring about an increase, or entail an increase.