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Unread Jun 2nd, 2016, 09:19 am
susan53 susan53 is offline
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Default Re: How to use the verb, to regress?

The meaning is fine - the problem is style. regress is a fairly formal word whereas your examples are written in fairly neutral style. go back would therefore be more likely, or possibly revert

Here are some examples of regressed used in authentic texts, all of them from academic corrpora :
  • Nodular agyrophil cells were not stable phenomena: nodular hyperplasias REGRESSED in five patients, remained similar in six, and progressed... in one.
  • Groups easily REGRESS to primitive mental activity of a kind ascribed to the primal horde...
  • ... the danger of REGRESSING to a simplistic reading of texts which simply locates their meanings in the author's life story.

As you can see, they're all from texts written in formal academic style. I couldn't find any examples at all in corpora of "ordinary" written or spoken English.
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