Virtuous English AcademyScience & Research — B1 English Vocabulary
This B1 vocabulary list gathers 40 intermediate English words about science & research — experiments, discovery and the universe. Every word comes with a simple definition, its British-English pronunciation and a natural example sentence, so you learn each one in real context. When you are ready, open the flashcards to practise and remember them for good.
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Using science & research words in English
Scientific vocabulary has one grammatical trap that appears in almost every student essay: research is uncountable in English, so researches is always wrong. Next to it sits a semantic trap of equal frequency — discover and invent are not synonyms, and which one you choose says whether the thing existed before. The third point on this page is a pronunciation and agreement quirk: subjects like physics end in s but take a singular verb.
What to watch out for
Research takes no plural
Say She is doing research into memory and Recent research shows… — singular verb, no article, no -s. For countable units use a piece of research, a research project or a study. The verb research is transitive with no preposition: He researched the topic. Note the collocations: you carry out, conduct or do research, but you never make it.
Discover what existed; invent what did not
Penicillin was discovered because it was already there. The telephone was invented because nobody had made one before. Both take direct objects, and the noun forms are discovery and invention. A third verb, find out, covers everyday information: I found out that the office was closed. Choosing between these three is a reliable indicator of how carefully somebody writes.
Physics ends in s but is singular
Physics is my favourite subject, not are. The same applies to mathematics, economics, politics and statistics when they name the field of study. Statistics becomes plural when it means the numbers themselves: These statistics are misleading. Note also that chemical works as both an adjective and a countable noun, and that cell means a biological unit here rather than a room or a phone.
Words learners mix up
Three tables: four words for the work of science and how each one counts, the ladder of things too small to see, and the four nouns of astronomy that behave very differently from one another.
Four words for the work itself
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| experiment | Countable, and the verb is carry out, do or conduct — never make. | They carried out the same experiment twice. |
| method | Countable. The particular way of doing something, and it takes of plus an -ing form. | It is a reliable method of measuring depth. |
| process | Countable, and it means a series of steps that happen over time rather than a technique you chose. | Digestion is a slow process. |
| analysis | Its plural is analyses, with the last syllable changing sound. Uncountable when it means the activity. | Further analysis confirmed the reading. |
The verb before experiment is the single most visible error on this topic, because make an experiment is a direct translation from several languages and English does not accept it. Method and process are the other pair to keep apart: a method is chosen by somebody, while a process simply happens, which is why you can improve a method but only observe a process.
Too small to see: four levels, four words
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| atom | The smallest unit of an element. Countable, and the adjective atomic shifts its stress to the second syllable. | A water molecule contains three atoms. |
| molecule | Two or more atoms joined. Countable, with the stress firmly on the first syllable. | The molecule breaks apart when heated. |
| cell | The smallest living unit. Countable, and it shares its spelling with a prison cell and a battery cell. | The human body has trillions of cells. |
| gene | Countable, and it is not the same as genetics, which is the study and takes a singular verb. | The gene was identified in 2004. |
All four are countable and regular, which makes them a useful contrast with the uncountable abstractions elsewhere on this page. The word family around gene is the one to build deliberately: gene, genetic, genetics, genetically — and note that genetics ends in an s but takes a singular verb, exactly like the school subjects.
Four words for the sky, four different behaviours
| Word | What it actually means | In a sentence |
|---|---|---|
| universe | Always the universe, with the article, because there is only one of it. | The universe is still expanding. |
| galaxy | Countable, and there are billions. Ours is capitalised as the Milky Way. | The telescope photographed a distant galaxy. |
| planet | Countable, and the planet on its own means the Earth in environmental writing. | Eight planets orbit the sun. |
| gravity | Uncountable, no article. It also has a formal second sense meaning seriousness. | Gravity pulls everything towards the centre. |
Three of these are ordinary countable nouns and the fourth is not, which is exactly the pattern that trips people up in writing: gravity can never follow a. Its second sense — as in the gravity of the situation — is formal and appears in news writing, and the adjective for that meaning is grave rather than gravitational.
Collocations that sound natural
Six words from the language of reporting an investigation. Each has a verb that goes with it and at least one everyday sense that has drifted a long way from the laboratory.
discovery
make a discoverya major discoverythe discovery of penicillina chance discovery
The verb is make, and what was found takes of. British English also uses a chance discovery for something found by accident, which is the polite way of saying nobody was looking for it.
result
get a resultthe results showas a resultresult in
Countable as a noun and normally plural in reports. As a result is a linking phrase meaning therefore, and the verb result in means to cause while result from means to be caused by — two opposite directions from one verb.
sample
take a samplea random samplea sample of bloodsample size
Countable, and the verb is take or collect. In statistics a random sample and sample size are fixed technical phrases, and the everyday sense of a free taste in a shop uses exactly the same word.
reaction
a chemical reactioncause a reactionan allergic reactiona chain reaction
Countable in every sense. The chemical use and the human one are equally common, and a chain reaction has escaped the laboratory entirely to mean any sequence where each event triggers the next.
substance
a harmful substancea sticky substancebanned substancessubstance abuse
Countable when it names a material and uncountable in the abstract sense of solidity: an argument with no substance. Banned substances is the fixed phrase in sport, and substance abuse is the formal term for drug misuse.
formula
a chemical formulawork out the formulathe formula for successa winning formula
The scientific plural is formulae and the everyday one is formulas; both are correct and the second is now more common in Britain. The figurative use — the formula for success — is far commoner than the chemical one in general writing.
Where each word belongs
Seven words carrying a stress pattern, a second sense or a level of formality. Scientific vocabulary lends itself heavily to everyday English, and the borrowed sense is usually the looser one.
- scientificWriting · and what it claimsIt means done by the methods of science, which is a real claim rather than a compliment. A scientific approach promises systematic evidence, and using it loosely about any careful piece of work weakens an essay. The adverb scientifically behaves the same way.
- laboratoryBritish stress · and the short formBritain stresses the second syllable and America the first, which makes the word sound almost unrecognisable across the Atlantic. Both shorten it to lab in speech and in compounds like lab coat and lab results, and the short form is fine in most writing.
- chemicalNoun and adjective · and a label warningAs an adjective it is entirely neutral: a chemical reaction. As a countable noun, and especially in the plural, it carries a suggestion of something unwanted — chemicals in the water — even though water is itself a chemical.
- theoryTwo senses that pull apartIn science it names a well-tested explanation, which is a strong claim. In everyday English it is only a theory means the opposite — a guess. The phrase in theory introduces something that ought to work and often does not, and its partner is in practice.
- evolutionUncountable · and a gentler everyday senseUncountable and article-free in biology. Outside it, the word simply means gradual change, so the evolution of the language claims nothing biological. The verb evolve is used the same way, and both are considerably milder than revolution.
- microscopeFixed prepositions · under and throughYou look through a microscope but the specimen goes under one, and the figurative phrase under the microscope means being examined closely. A telescope takes through in both senses, which is why the two prepositions cannot be swapped.
- scientistCountable · and the field wordsCountable and general. English usually prefers the specific word where one exists — chemist, biologist, physicist — and note that in Britain a chemist is also the shop where you buy medicine, which is a pharmacy in American English.
Sentences to try
Four frames from academic writing. Replace the fields with ones you actually study or read about.
- Recent research suggests a link between the two.
- Fleming discovered penicillin almost by accident.
- The team carried out an experiment in the laboratory.
- Physics is the subject she wants to study at university.
Questions about science & research vocabulary
Can I say "researches" in English?
Not as a noun. Research is uncountable, so it takes a singular verb and no plural -s: Research shows that…, a great deal of research. To count, switch to studies, research projects or pieces of research. Researches does exist as the third-person form of the verb — She researches medieval history — which is why the word looks acceptable. In academic writing the noun plural is one of the most frequently marked errors at B1 and B2.
What is the difference between discover and invent?
You discover something that already existed but was unknown: They discovered a new species, Marie Curie discovered radium. You invent something that did not exist until somebody created it: Bell invented the telephone. The nouns follow: a discovery against an invention. For ordinary information rather than science, the phrasal verb find out is the natural choice: I found out where she lives.
Is "physics" singular or plural?
Singular, despite the final s: Physics is difficult. The same applies to other fields of study that end in -ics — mathematics, economics, politics, linguistics. The one to watch is statistics, which is singular as a subject — Statistics is a branch of mathematics — but plural when it means the figures: The statistics are alarming. News follows the singular pattern too, which is worth remembering alongside these.