Is there a word for that?
Example sentence:
The sales declined to 10 in November, and to 5 in December. This __ repeated the following year.
Note: I checked the synonyms for trend. But none of them imply a negative/downward trend.
Learn English – word for “negative/declining trend”
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Best Answer
A trend can be either negative (decreasing) or positive (increasing). For that matter, a trend can be neutral (flat). A trend is simply the continuation of what has gone before.
The Longman on-line dictionary defines it as follows:
So your sentences could be:
As you have already mentioned that sales declined in November and December, it is not necessary to state, 'This negative trend repeated the following year', although doing so would not be frowned on.
1/ If you are talking about 'sales' generally, there is no need to precede it with the definite article. If you are talking about a specific 'sales of something', then you may precede that with a definite article, although it is not essential, e.g.
2/ Because you are talking about two different trends, the results of sales in November and December in two consecutive years, it is correct to say, 'The trend repeated...'. If you had said, 'This trend repeated the following month', this would have been wrong, because the following month would have been a continuation of the trend in the two previous months. In this case you would have had to say, 'This trend continued the following month'.