Two ways to describe a change in level
1A club builds a model fountain for a supervised demonstration. In this invented example, a pump draws water from a lower container and sends it into a clear upper tank. When the pump operates, the water level in the upper tank rises. The mechanism is described explicitly, so the members can also say that the pump raises the water level. One sentence focuses on the changing level; the other names the device that causes the change.
2Yesterday, the club tested the model. The pump raised the water level, and the level rose steadily. A student writes, "The pump rose the water level yesterday." Her partner asks which noun names the cause and which names the affected thing. They keep the pump as subject and correct rose to raised. They do not change every occurrence of rose in the report, because the sentence about the level itself is already correct.
3The club makes review cards rather than copying a list of translations. One card pairs rise, rose, and risen with sentences about the level. Another pairs raise, raised, and raised with sentences containing an object. A third includes the passive sentence, "The level was raised by the pump." The members notice that the passive has no object after raised, but it is not an error: the affected thing has become the subject. They also distinguish an adverb such as steadily from an object. Finally, they practise with a stage curtain and the person lifting it, checking the same relationships in a new setting.