| Do you remember the focus sentence from the dialogue? |
| Last year, public interest in scientific research grew rapidly. |
| This sentence follows the pattern here. |
| growth/change verbs + adverbs of degree |
| This sentence pattern — “growth/change verbs + adverbs of degree” — is used to describe how something increases, decreases, or shifts over time. It’s especially useful when talking about business trends, market activity, or changes in interest or behavior. |
| Let’s go part by part. |
| The growth/change verb shows what kind of movement or development is happening. These are verbs like “grow,” “increase,” “decline,” or “shift,” and they describe a change from one state to another. |
| The adverb of degree tells us how much or how quickly that change happened. Words like “rapidly,” “sharply,” or “gradually” help make the description more precise and measurable. |
| Now let’s look at the example sentence: |
| “Last year, public interest in scientific research grew rapidly.” |
| The growth/change verb is “grew” — it shows that the level of public interest increased. |
| The adverb of degree is “rapidly” — it describes the speed and intensity of the growth. |
| So the sentence follows the pattern: |
| Growth/change verb (“grew”) + adverb of degree (“rapidly”) |
| This structure helps speakers describe clear trends and developments in a detailed and accurate way. |
| There is also a second pattern which communicates a similar idea, with a different structure for the verbs. |
| Auxiliary Verb/Phrase + Adverb + Main Verb |
| This sentence pattern — “auxiliary verb + adverb + main verb” — is used to describe how an action is happening over time, especially when talking about trends or ongoing developments. It helps the speaker show not just what is happening, but also the manner or pace of that change. |
| Let’s go part by part. |
| The auxiliary verb supports the main verb and helps express tense, aspect, or voice. In this case, we have “have been”, which is used to form the present perfect continuous tense — this tense describes an action that started in the past and is still continuing. |
| The adverb comes next. It describes how the action is being done — in this case, how consistently or gradually something is happening. It gives more detail about the nature of the trend. |
| Finally, the main verb shows the action that is taking place — this is the core activity being described. |
| Now let’s look at an example sentence from the dialogue: |
| “We’ve been steadily building new research facilities.” |
| The auxiliary phrase is “have been”, which sets up an ongoing action. |
| The adverb is “steadily”, showing that the activity is happening in a consistent and continuous way. |
| The main verb is “building”, which describes the action itself — putting up new facilities. |
| So the full sentence follows the pattern: |
| Auxiliary phrase (“have been”) + adverb (“steadily”) + main verb (“building”) |
| This structure is useful for explaining ongoing trends or developments, and it helps emphasize both the action and the way that action is progressing over time. |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| People have gradually begun to use social media. |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| This sentence follows the auxiliary verb + adverb + main verb structure. “Have” is the auxiliary verb, “gradually” is the adverb, and “begun” is the main verb. The adverb “gradually” tells us the rate of change, emphasizing that the shift toward using social media happened over time. |
| Next… |
| Because of new technology, we’ve gradually stopped using the copy machine. |
| This also fits the auxiliary verb + adverb + main verb pattern. “We have” is the auxiliary, “gradually” is the adverb, and “stopped” is the main verb. The adverb modifies how the stopping happened—slowly and over time—showing a declining trend. |
| Let’s try one more, |
| We have steadily increased our output. |
| This sentence uses a growth verb—“increased”—with the adverb “steadily.” Together, they show a pattern of consistent improvement. It also matches the auxiliary verb + adverb + main verb structure: “have” + “steadily” + “increased.” |
| Another one. |
| The company expanded steadily. |
| This one uses the growth verb “expanded” directly with the adverb “steadily.” It fits the growth/change verb + adverb of degree pattern, indicating slow and continuous growth over time. |
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