Comebacks for wild tigers, tuna and sea turtles prove nature loss can be reversed, scientists say
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EN: The reporting clause ('scientists have asserted') is placed at the end of the sentence as an end-weight or attribution tag, which is very common in journalistic writing. This fronting of the direct/reported finding emphasizes the substantive claim before citing the source.
Renewable energy can reliably power modern economies, leading analysts have argued.
EN: The adverb 'indeed' is used here for emphatic affirmation, validating a prior doubt or debate. Combined with the passive modal construction 'can be reversed', it strongly asserts the feasibility of halting ecological loss.
Strict enforcement shows that corruption can indeed be curtailed.
EN: 'Comeback' originally stems from sports and theater, referring to a dramatic return to success after a period of failure or absence. In environmental journalism, it has been widely adopted to describe species recovering from near-extinction, infusing technical conservation biology with a narrative of triumph and resilience.
EN: The structure 'be + to-infinitive' (here in the passive: 'is to be averted') is a formal construction expressing purpose, condition, destiny, or obligation. In conditional clauses introduced by 'if', it often translates to 'if [something] is to happen/be achieved', indicating a prerequisite or desired outcome.
Strict regulations must be enforced if environmental degradation is to be halted.
EN: The verb 'caution' can take a 'that'-noun clause as its direct object ('caution that...'), functioning similarly to 'warn that'. It typically describes authoritative bodies or experts delivering formal caveats or warnings about serious future consequences.
Economists caution that inflation may surge again before stabilizing.
EN: In climate and ecological science, 'tipping point' originally referred to an irreversible threshold leading to catastrophic environmental breakdown. Recently, sustainability scientists and policymakers have popularized the counter-concept 'positive tipping point'—a catalytic socio-economic shift where sustainable practices become self-propelling and rapidly displace destructive ones.
EN: The sentence begins with a perfect participle clause ('Having analysed...'). A perfect participle (having + past participle) emphasizes that an action was completed before the action in the main clause ('found') took place. The implied subject of this participial clause must logically match the subject of the main clause ('the World Wildlife Fund').
Having reviewed the financial reports, the committee decided to approve the annual budget.
EN: The preposition 'by' is used following change/movement verbs (such as 'plummet', 'drop', 'increase', 'rise') to indicate the specific margin or degree of change. In contrast, 'to' would indicate the final end point.
The company's profits plummeted by 40% due to supply chain disruptions.
EN: The present perfect tense ('have plummeted') paired with 'since 1970' indicates an action that started at a specific point in the past (1970) and continues to have relevance or effect up to the present moment.
Global surface temperatures have steadily increased since the beginning of the industrial era.
EN: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) publishes its landmark 'Living Planet Report' biennially. The 1970 baseline is globally recognized in environmental science as the benchmark year for the Living Planet Index (LPI), tracking trends in global biodiversity. When reporting science news, British and international journalism commonly utilizes terms like 'plummet' to convey urgency and crisis backed by hard statistical data.
EN: Negative inversion occurs when a negative or restrictive phrase (such as 'Not only') is placed at the beginning of a clause for rhetorical emphasis. The auxiliary verb ('does') precedes the subject ('this decline'), mirroring interrogative word order.
Not only did she complete the project ahead of schedule, but she also exceeded all performance targets.
EN: The correlative conjunction 'Not only..., but (it) also...' links two parallel independent clauses or predicates to introduce two additive, often escalating, facts. When the clauses have distinct subjects or structures, subject pronouns (like 'it') are retained in the second clause.
Not only is solar energy renewable, but it also significantly reduces carbon emissions.
EN: Non-defining relative clauses can be introduced by quantifier phrases followed by 'of which' (or 'of whom') to specify a proportion of the preceding noun. Here, 'roughly half of which' refers back to 'the global economy' and adds supplemental descriptive detail without restricting the antecedent.
The company launched three new initiatives, two of which have already proven successful.
EN: The term 'nature's services' (more formally known in policy and economics as 'ecosystem services') refers to the varied benefits to humans provided by the natural environment, such as clean water, pollination, carbon sequestration, and soil fertility. Quantifying the global economy's dependency on nature—often cited by organizations like the World Economic Forum as roughly $44 trillion (over half of global GDP)—has become a prominent rhetorical strategy to persuade financial and governmental leaders to take biodiversity loss seriously.
EN: The absolute structure 'with + noun phrase + participle (V-ing)' is used as an adverbial modifier of circumstance or elaboration, providing specific details that support the main clause.
Deforestation escalated last year, with agricultural expansion driving most of the tree loss.
EN: The reduced comparative phrase 'compared with [X]' functions as an elliptical adverbial clause modifying the preceding statistic (95%), contrasting different data points concisely without repeating the subject and verb.
Sales surged by 40% in North America, compared with just 10% in East Asia.
EN: The superlative adjective 'steepest' is used metaphorically to describe the sharpest decline or most drastic rate of reduction, functioning here as a subject complement following the linking verb 'were'.
Inflation was steepest in energy and food sectors during the winter months.
EN: The sharp disparity in biodiversity loss between tropical and temperate zones highlights global environmental injustice: biodiversity-rich developing regions (such as Latin America and Africa) suffer greater ecological degradation driven largely by global commodity supply chains catering to industrialized nations.
EN: The present participle clause 'prompting...' acts as an adverbial clause of result (subsequent action/consequence), modifying the entire preceding clause. In advanced writing, non-finite clauses introduced by '-ing' (like prompting, leading to, resulting in) are frequently used to express smooth causal progression.
Severe storms flooded the coastal plains, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate immediately.
EN: The verb 'urge' belongs to verbs of demand, recommendation, or urgency (mandative subjunctive), requiring a 'that'-clause where the verb appears in the base form ('be fundamentally reformed'), omitting 'should' in standard formal English.
Health authorities urge that strict hygiene measures be implemented across all hospitals.
EN: The intransitive verb 'fare' means 'to perform, get on, or experience a particular state of fortune' (often paired with adverbs like well, badly, worst). The phrase 'fare worst of all' expresses that this specific category experienced the most severe negative impact relative to all others.
Independent retailers fared better than expected during the economic downturn.
EN: In global environmental science discourse, 'food systems' encompasses everything from land clearing, agriculture, and water extraction to chemical runoff and food waste. According to major UN and WWF reports, agricultural expansion and water diversion are the primary drivers of freshwater biodiversity loss, making food system reform central to climate and nature summits.
Key vocabulary words with IPA pronunciation, definitions, example sentences, and interactive quizzes.
Phrases with type tags, bilingual definitions, usage notes, and example sentences.
The critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place.
A catastrophic and drastic loss of species diversity within an ecosystem or across the planet.
The benefits and resources provided by natural ecosystems that support human life and economic activity (also known as ecosystem services).
To experience the poorest outcome or suffer the most damage compared to others in a group.