Trends can make you ill

Posted by Pak Guru on December 2nd, 2016 | 0 comments | collocation, GTC, IELTS, overview, Task 1, tren, trends, vocabulary, writing

Australians who disagreed or remained neutral had an upward trend during the period.

I mentioned in a previous post that ‘trend’ is a dangerous word and perhaps best avoided because:

1. it is usually redundant
2. it carries with it unusual collocation that does not translate easily from other languages

The wrong collocation can cause meaning to change. In the example above, ‘upward trend‘ sounds like some kind of illness, which is something that we ‘have’, for example “I had a cold last week.” We might imagine the following conversation:

You: Sorry I missed our appointment yesterday. I had an upward trend.
Your friend: Sorry to hear that. I hope you’re feeling better!

Once again, it’s possible, and usually preferable to describe a trend without using the word ‘trend‘. Avoid it!