A lot of learners of English get confused with RAISE and RISE. Visual English introduces an easier way for you to remember when to use RAISE or RISE and how to use these two verbs correctly. The lesson is designed and conducted by ESL teacher Theo Mai from Vietnam.

1. RAISE or RISE?
SCENE 1
Hello. Welcome to Visual English!
I hope you’ll have a perfect day today.
Many learners of English get confused with two common English verbs: RAISE and RISE
because both of them can be used to describe a movement of something from a lower
position to a higher position.
If you are preparing for and IELTS test, a TOEFL test, or maybe a TOEIC test, you may be
familiar with this example, take a look at this:
The government say they are going to ____ import tax by 10% next year. This is not a
surprise because taxes ______ and fall quite often in this country.
Most grammar book would say:
“Rise” is an intransitive verb so it doesn’t need any objects: Something rises.
“Raise” is a transitive verb so you have to say you “raise” something.
“The government say they are going to RAISE import tax by 10% next year.”
“Rise” is the opposite of “fall”. So, it sounds better if we say:
“This is not a surprise because taxes RISE and fall quite often in this country.”
Learning English verbs and trying to remember if they are transitive or intransitive verbs
could be a difficult thing for you. With Visual English, I hope you can use “RAISE” and “RISE”
correctly in different situations by understanding their true meanings.
First, look at my visuals.

2. SCENE 2
Look at this!
Do you say:
“The sun rises in the East.” or
“The sun raises in the East.” ?
That’s right. We say: “The sun rises in the East.” because the sun makes the movement by
itself.
Be noticed that the verb forms of RISE, they are: RISE-ROSE-RISEN
So, you can say:
Sales rose very quickly this year.
Sales have risen for several months.
Now, take a look at this:
Do we say:
“The students are raising their hands.” or
“The students are rising their hands.” ?
Absolutely. You say: “The students are raising their hands.” because the action must be
done by the students. In other words, we need somebody to RAISE something because it
can’t make the movement by itself.
Be noticed that RAISE is a regular verb so its verb forms are: RAISE-RAISED-RAISED.
You can say:
Many stores suddenly raised their prices last week.
Many stores have raised their prices since last year.

3. SCENE 3
So, what are the differences?
The first difference is:
RISE describes something going upward by itself. Meanwhile, RAISE describes something
going upward with somebody’s help.
“The sun rises.” Who makes the sun rise ? No one. Nobody can lift the sun up, it just rises by
itself.
“The students are raising their hands.” Who helps the hands to move upward? The students.
The students have to lift them up.
The second difference is:
If something moves upward as an indirect result of something, we use RISE.
If something moves upward as a direct result of something, we use RAISE.
“Sales rose very quickly this year.” because we might have had effective marketing
strategies.
“Many stores suddenly raised their prices last week.” Prices went up because many stores
increased them.
SCENE 4
Another verb that you may feel confused with is ARISE. It is also an intransitive verb like
RISE. Basically, if something ARISES, it begins to happen and normally, people can’t see or
feel it immediately. It takes some time or we have to move closer in order to see or feel it.
Look at this visual!
If a student raises a tricky question to his teacher, you can say:
“A tricky question arises in our history class today.”

4. We normally use ARISE with abstract nouns, or nouns that we can’t see or touch, like a
problem, an opportunity, an issue, an idea, etc.
The verb forms of ARISE are: ARISE-AROSE-ARISEN
You can say:
When an opportunity arises, you should grab it!
A fantastic idea arose in my mind when she came in.
A financial crisis has arisen in our country.
SCENE 5
Alright. So we have discussed the difference between RISE and RAISE. But sometimes,
there are some minor exceptions.
When we discuss body movements, RISE can be used as a formal verb to mean to STAND
UP from a sitting position.
As in a court room, you may hear:
“All rise!”, meaning “Everyone, please stand up!”
Meanwhile, RAISE means to move or to lift yourself into an upright position.
For example:
“She raised herself from the pillows.”
We can also use arise to mean to get up, get out of bed or stand up
For example, the queen may say to someone who is kneeling in front of her:
“Raise! Sir William.”, meaning “Mr. William, please stand up”
In British English, RAISE is never a noun. People use RISE instead. But in American English,
you can use RAISE as a noun. So we can say:
“My boss just gave me a pay rise.”
Or:

5. “My boss just gave me a pay raise.”
Both are OK. So don’t worry!
SCENE 6
OK. Let’s recap!
Firstly,
RISE indicates an upward movement of something by itself, as in:
“The sun rises in the East.”
RAISE indicates an upward movement of something but with the help of an agent, as in:
“Congratulations! Let’s raise our glasses!”
Secondly,
If something rises, it is an indirect result of something else:
“Sea levels” around the world have risen in the past few decades. Sea levels rise because of
global warming.
If we raise something, we will create a direct result on it.
“We raised a lot of money from our charity event.”, we are getting more money because we
asked people to contribute.
SCENE 7
So, you have mastered the differences between RAISE and RISE. Congratulations! Let’s
raise our glasses!
If any problem arises when you study English, please raise your questions and send us an
email.
That’s all for today. Thanks for watching. I’ll see you next time. Bye!