Meaning & use
manual skills
Last updated
UK/ˈmænjuəl skɪlz/
US/ˈmænjuəl skɪlz/
Meaning
nounplural
Abilities that involve using your hands skillfully to make or repair things.
Grammar: Always plural; takes a plural verb: Manual skills are useful.
Patterns
- manual skills in something
- develop manual skills
- have good manual skills
Carpenters need strong manual skills to cut and join wood accurately.
The school offers a course to help students develop manual skills like sewing and woodworking.
Her manual skills were obvious when she quickly fixed the broken chair.
Common combinations
- develop manual skills
- Children develop manual skills by playing with building blocks.
- good manual skills
- The job requires good manual skills and attention to detail.
- manual skills training
- The company provides manual skills training for new employees.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- manual adjective
- Done with the hands, or operated by hand.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
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"Manual skills" is a plural noun phrase and takes a plural verb, so "are" is correct. "Is" and "was" are singular and do not agree.
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