How to use rise and raise

‘Rise’ and ‘raise’ look and sound similar but cause lots of problems.

By the end of this lesson, you will

understand the differences between ‘rise’ and ‘raise’ (meaning, grammar, pronunciation and usage)
be able to use them specifically, with precise collocations, to describe Academic IELTS Task 1 graphs (Language of change) and more generally in Speaking and Writing Task 2.

Scroll down for the ‘Test Yourself’ Quiz.

Test yourself

What is the difference in meaning between the two statements below?

‘Prices rise every year’.
‘I raise my prices every year.’

Answer

The price increases/goes up by itself (e.g. due to inflation, shortages, increased demand etc).
I do the action. I increase the prices. I put the prices up.

*‘go up’ and ‘put up’are informal versions of ‘rise’ and ‘raise’.

The meaning of rise/raise

RISE = when something goes up by itself e.g. The sun rises. 🌅

‘rise’ is an intransitive verb. It does not need an object.

The sun (SUBJECT) + rises (VERB).

RAISE needs an OBJECT e.g. I raise my hand.

I (SUBJECT) + raise (VERB) + my hand (OBJECT).

‘raise’ is a transitive verb.

The GRAMMAR of rise/raise

Look what happens in the different tenses:

PRESENT: Prices rise. I raise prices.

PAST: Prices rose. I raised prices.

PERFECT: Prices have risen. I have raised prices.

RISE is irregular (rise – rose – risen)
RAISE is regular (-ed Past Forms)

When describing increases, notice the difference in the use of prepositions:

Prices rose by 20% (from $10 to $30)
Prices rose to $30.
There was a rise of 20%.

The NOUN forms of rise/raise

Look at these examples. What do you notice?

There was a significant rise in prices.
Profits went up to $10 million, a rise of 20%.
Global action would help to slow the rise in sea-levels.
The government could support NHS workers by giving them a pay rise.

‘RISE’ is the noun form of both ‘rise‘ and ‘raise*‘.

[*In US English, when you talk about an increase in the amount of money you earn, it’s a ‘raise’ but in the UK it’s also a ‘pay rise’].

Collocations for the NOUN ‘rise’

When you’re describing changes on a graph/bar chart (Writing Task 1) or talking about general changes (Speaking, Writing Task 2), use adjectives to describe them more precisely.

e.g. ‘There was a [significant] increase in sales’.

big, considerable, dramatic, exponential, large, marked, significant, substantial, [huge, massive = less formal]
moderate, modest, small, slight
rapid, sharp
gradual, steady
fivefold, tenfold etc

Collocations for the VERB ‘rise’

e.g. ‘Prices rose [significantly]‘.

~~bigly,~~ considerably, dramatically, exponentially, ~~largely~~ by a large amount, markedly, significantly, substantially, [~~huge,~~ massively = less formal]
moderately, modestly, by a small amount, slightly
rapidly, sharply
gradually, steadily
fivefold, tenfold etc

Common mistakes with rise/raise

These two words are easily confused when describing Bar Charts/Graphs in Academic IELTS Task 1 and Task 2.

Can you correct these?

‘Prices ~~raised~~ significantly’.
‘Sea-levels have ~~raised~~ recently’.
‘As the water heats up, the steam ~~raises~~‘.

Answer

‘Prices ~~raised~~ rose significantly’.
‘Sea-levels have ~~raised~~ risen recently’.
‘As the water heats up, the steam ~~raises~~ rises‘.

Test Yourself with this quiz

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