Close menu

English in a Minute Series 4

Intermediate level

Verbs to use with 'research'

Episode 250128 / 28 Jan 2025

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learn more English in a Minute

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

Research is an activity where you study or investigate something to learn new things about it. There are some words that we often use together with 'research'. These are called collocations. Learn some of the verbs that we often use with the noun 'research' with Phil in this video.

Common collocations with 'research'

carry out research
carry out research is one way to say do research. It often focuses on the activity in progress.

  • We arecarrying out research into health problems in the local area. Could you fill in this questionnaire?

undertake research
Another way to talk about doing research is to say that you are undertakingresearch. It has a similar meaning to 'carry out' research.

  • I'm going to undertake some research into economic predictions. It should take about six months.

conduct research
Conductresearch is also a way to say 'do' research. It has a similar meaning to carry out research and undertake research.

  • That's an interesting topic! You should conduct some research to see if your predictions are correct.

base research on
You baseresearchon the source of your information. This is often used in the passive to explain where information has come from.

  • This study isbasedon the records held in the National Archives. It's the most comprehensive source of information.

research proves...
If we say that our researchproves something, it means that it demonstrates that something is true.

  • This research proves that the new process will save energy. There's a clear link between the method and the amount of energy saved.

research shows...
If research shows something, we can see it in the results.

  • The latest research shows that global temperatures are increasing.

research reveals...
If research reveals something, then it makes something clear or visible.

  • Our researchreveals just how bad the problem really is. We now hope to develop a solution.

research suggests...
If research suggests something, it demonstrates that something might be true.  

  • Your researchsuggests that mobile phones are causing a problem. Now you should carry out some more in-depth research.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Download a free transcript!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Phil
We doresearch but what other verbs do we use with 'research'?

Well, you carry it out, or undertake it. We can also say you conductresearch. They mean the same.

No one hascarried out research on this area before. We'reconducting the first major research on this topic.
She'sundertaking some important research.

When talking about it, we often want to say what researchis based on - where does the information come from?

This researchisbasedon data from our experiments.

Then, it's all about how certain you are. Maybe your researchproves something, shows something, or reveals something. Maybe it just suggests something if you're not so sure.

My research proves that my theory is correct. It reveals the importance of my ideas.
Her researchsuggests that things are much more complicated than we thought.

So, you can undertakeresearch, base it on data and see if it proves or suggests something.

English in a Minute Series 4 dhihoo kanaa

Hojii manaa

PDF'dhaan gad-buusi

Podkaast

Learning English vocabulary

From the Archive

  • Phrases with 'blue'

    Phrases with 'blue'

    Episode 250708 / 08 Jul 2024

    How many 'blue' phrases do you know? Learn three more here.

  • Phrases with 'ice'

    Phrases with 'ice'

    Episode 250701 / 01 Jul 2025

    Don't put your learning on ice – learn these phrases with 'ice' today!