Spot the mistake
French climate-data corrections: réduire de or réduire à?
Correct réduire de and réduire à in French climate data sentences. Use starting values and endpoints to find the one preposition that changes the meaning.
- B2
- 5 sentences
- Tap the wrong word
- Learn this in the B2 notebook →
In short
Réduire de gives the amount removed; réduire à gives the final level. If a value falls from 120 to 90, it is reduced de 30 or à 90. Use the stated figures to decide which preposition needs changing.
Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn
The error hunt supplies the starting and final quantities in its English cues. Each French sentence contains one incorrect preposition. Tap that word and replace it, keeping the supplied number unchanged. A useful check is to reconstruct the final value after your correction.
| Start | End | Amount removed | Two descriptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 units | 90 units | 30 units | réduire de 30 unités / réduire à 90 unités |
Tap the word that's wrong in each sentence.
The quantity falls from 120 to 90 units. Describe the amount removed.
Thirty is the reduction amount: 120 minus 30 equals 90. Use de.
The volume falls from 100 to 80 litres. Give the endpoint.
Eighty is the final volume. Réduit à 80 gives that endpoint.
Emissions fall from 50 to 40 tonnes. Describe the reduction amount.
The amount removed is ten tonnes; the final amount is forty. Use de 10.
Duration will fall from eight hours to six hours. State the new duration.
Six hours is the endpoint, so the sentence needs à six heures.
A total falls from 100 to 80 units. State the relative reduction.
The reduction is twenty per cent of the baseline. Use de 20 %, not an endpoint of twenty per cent.
Percentages need their own base
A reduction from 50 to 40 is ten units, but 20% of the starting quantity. Réduit de 10 and réduit de 20 % can therefore describe the same change with different units. Réduit à 80 % du niveau initial is also possible: it gives the remaining share of the initial level. Keep the phrase after the percentage, because it identifies the base.
La consommation est réduite de 20 %, à 80 unités, par rapport à un niveau initial de 100.
Consumption is reduced by 20%, to 80 units, compared with an initial level of 100.
A percentage-point change is different again. A rate from 40% to 30% falls by ten points, or by 25% relative to its starting rate. If the sentence is about a rate, name points de pourcentage where needed. Do not let the familiar word baisse conceal a change of units.