Meaning & use
a method
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Meanings
nouncountable
A planned way of doing something, especially one that is regular or systematic.
Grammar: Countable: one method, several methods; often followed by of, for, or to.
Patterns
- a method of doing something
- a method for doing something
- a method to do something
- use a method
She has a method for remembering new words quickly.
The team tried a new method of teaching reading.
There must be a better method to solve this problem.
nouncountabletechnical
An organized system of rules and steps used in a science, art, or profession.
Grammar: Often used with a name before it: the case method, the scientific method.
Patterns
- the scientific method
- a teaching method
- a research method
Students learn the scientific method in their first science class.
Her research method involves long interviews with families.
The school changed its teaching methods last year.
Word forms
| plural | methods |
|---|
Common combinations
- a method of payment
- Credit card is the most common method of payment here.
- the scientific method
- Good experiments follow the scientific method.
- a teaching method
- Group work is a popular teaching method.
- develop a method
- Engineers developed a cheaper method for testing the metal.
- an effective method
- This is an effective method for learning vocabulary.
Synonyms and how they differ
- way
- Way is the everyday word and works in almost any sentence; method sounds more planned and organized.
- approach
- Approach stresses your general attitude or angle toward a problem, while method stresses the steps you follow.
- technique
- Technique is a skillful way of doing one specific task, often physical or artistic, and is narrower than method.
- procedure
- Procedure suggests a fixed official order of steps, as in a hospital or laboratory, so it is more formal than method.
Word family
- methodical adjective
- done in a careful, ordered way
- methodically adverb
- in a careful, ordered way
- methodology noun
- the set of methods used in a subject or study
Commonly confused: a method or methodology?
a method vs methodology
Methodology means the study or system of methods, not one single method; a paper's methodology section explains the whole approach.
Practice
Which sentence uses the correct pattern with "method"?
Choose one answer.
"A method for learning" uses for + -ing, a very common pattern. "A method of learn" is wrong because of must be followed by an -ing form ("of learning"), and "a method learn" leaves out the linking word entirely.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a method”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.