Meaning & use
line of inquiry
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountableformal
A particular subject or direction that an official investigation is examining.
Grammar: Countable: you can talk about one line of inquiry or several lines of inquiry.
Patterns
- pursue a line of inquiry
- follow a line of inquiry
- rule out a line of inquiry
The police are pursuing a new line of inquiry after a witness came forward.
Detectives said they had exhausted all obvious lines of inquiry.
That line of inquiry was ruled out when the suspect's alibi was confirmed.
phrasecountableformal
A topic or question that someone is researching or thinking about in order to find an answer.
Grammar: Countable; often used with verbs like 'explore' or 'open up'.
Patterns
- explore a line of inquiry
- open up a new line of inquiry
Her latest paper explores a promising line of inquiry in cancer research.
The committee suggested several lines of inquiry for future studies.
Word forms
| plural | lines of inquiry |
|---|
Common combinations
- pursue a line of inquiry
- The journalist decided to pursue a different line of inquiry.
- follow a line of inquiry
- The auditors followed every line of inquiry before concluding.
- rule out a line of inquiry
- The team ruled out a line of inquiry after checking the records.
- a new line of inquiry
- A new line of inquiry emerged from the interview.
Synonyms and how they differ
- avenue of investigation
- Very similar in meaning, but 'avenue' is slightly more formal and often used in legal contexts.
- angle
- More informal and general; it can refer to any approach, not just an official investigation.
Word family
Commonly confused: line of inquiry or line of questioning?
line of inquiry vs line of questioning
This refers specifically to the series of questions asked, often in a court or interview, while 'line of inquiry' is the broader direction of an investigation.
Practice
The detectives decided to ______ a new line of inquiry after the DNA results came back.
Choose one answer.
The correct verb is 'pursue' because it means to follow or continue an investigation. 'Make', 'do', and 'take' do not collocate naturally with 'line of inquiry' in this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “line of inquiry”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.