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 Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:04 am decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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Hi Nessie
'Increase' (d) is the best choice, in my opinion. I suppose 'rise' (c) might also be possible, but 'increase dramatically' collocates better with 'cost'.
Choices (a) and (b) are not logical in the context.
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| Sun Apr 06, 2008 18:15 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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Hi Nessie
To me, this is a matter of learning common collocations. On the other hand, I don't think that's the best test sentence that was ever written. 
I might say the 'cost of doing business' and the 'cost of living', for example.
But I'd usually talk about the 'price of gas' and 'the price of a house'.
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| Tue Sep 16, 2008 14:13 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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I think that you use 'increase' when talking about a particular quantity/amount and 'rise' is used when not referring to a particular quantity/amount.
For example:
The temperature will rise in summer.
The temperature will increase from 17 today to 21 tomorrow.
But, English places emphasis on the individual so you will also have:
The population of the city is expected to increase over the next few years. |
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David J Hilt
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Nessie
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| Tue Sep 23, 2008 20:29 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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I don't know, Nessie. I don't think I'd want to rely on that.
You could easily use either word here, for example:
- The price of gas has risen/increased by 20 percent in the last six months.
Of course, you should keep in mind that the word "rise" is intransitive, so it is not possible to say "We have risen the price by 20 percent." You might say that the word "rise" would be used with things that "go up" by themselves -- or seem to. If there is an agent involved (i.e. a passive construction), then you can only use "increase":
- The price of gas was increased yesterday.
- The price of gas was increased by 10 cents a gallon yesterday.
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| Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:27 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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To my mind they both refer to a specific quantity, so increase is still correct. That is, both refer to the price of gas yesterday compared with today - so there are two distinct prices which are directly measurable. If the phrase was generalised, that's when rise would be appropriate. For example:
"In summer the price of gas is expected to rise as more people start to drive their cars."
But I'm a speaker of Australian English - which has more in common with British English when it comes to certain turns of phrase and grammar rules. From what I've noticed American English doesn't tend to follow the rules as closely. |
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David J Hilt
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| Wed Sep 24, 2008 15:36 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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| David J Hilt wrote: | | To my mind they both refer to a specific quantity, so increase is still correct. |
That was the point, David. Both rise and increase work just fine in that sentence. Rise works too -- despite the fact that a specific amount was mentioned.
| David J Hilt wrote: | If the phrase was generalised, that's when rise would be appropriate. For example:
"In summer the price of gas is expected to rise as more people start to drive their cars." |
I would agree that rise might be more likely to be used in that sentence. However, I don't think the use of increase would be odd at all.
A sentence in which I would use rise but not increase might be this:
- The river has risen.
That basically means this:
- The water level has risen.
In other words, the water level has risen because the amount of water in the river has increased. However, if I were referring to the water in a bucket, for example, I would be less likely to think of the water in terms of the "level of the water in the bucket", and more likely to think of it in terms of the "amount of water of water in the bucket". I could look at the water in a bucket either in terms of level or in terms of amount.
So, perhaps the choice depends largely on whether someone is viewing something for which only/mainly a level is usually is measured as opposed to something that is usually measured in terms of size or quantity -- regardless of whether there is a precise measurement or not. I would argue, however, that there are many things that are often measured both in terms of level AND in terms of size/quantity.
| David J Hilt wrote: | | From what I've noticed American English doesn't tend to follow the rules as closely. |
Can you be more specific, David? Which rules are you referring to?
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| Wed Sep 24, 2008 16:16 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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| Quote: | | 'Increase' (d) is the best choice, in my opinion. I suppose 'rise' (c) might also be possible, but 'increase dramatically' collocates better with 'cost'. |
Amy's information may be misleading. Let's see.
The BNC says:
a dramatic rise - 19 per million words
a dramatic increase - 66 per million words
costs have risen - 11 per million words
costs have increased - 5 per million words
COCA says:
a dramatic rise - 40 per million words
a dramatic increase - 209 per million words
costs have risen - 34 per million words
costs have increased - 19 per million words
costs * rise dramatically - 1 per million words
costs * increase dramatically - 1 per million words
4 for "costs continue to rise dramatically".
0 for "costs continue to increase dramatically".
http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
http://www.americancorpus.org/
Google says:
9,500 English pages for "costs * rise dramatically".
16,400 English pages for "costs * increase dramatically".
19 English pages for "costs continue to increase dramatically".
67 English pages for "costs continue to rise dramatically".
Google UK says:
55 for "costs * rise dramatically".
74 for "costs * increase dramatically".
So it could be a question of colligation and collocation combined, one of personal/cultural preference or one of genre/register preference. |
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| Wed Sep 24, 2008 18:53 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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Was there a specific reason you decided against researching the word "cost", Molly?
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| Wed Sep 24, 2008 19:06 pm decrease vs. decline vs. rise vs. increase |
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| Not really. Should we do it? |
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