noun · academic
theory
UK/ˈθɪəri/US/ˈθɪri/THE·o·ry
Band 5-6task2speaking
an idea or set of ideas that explains something, based on principles and evidence
Examples
“The theory of evolution is central to modern biology.”
“In theory, the plan should work, but in practice there are problems.”
“Her theory about language development has influenced many studies.”
Band 8 sentence
“While the theory accounts for many observations, it fails to explain the anomalies revealed in recent experiments.”
Collocations
- formulate a theory
- test/support/reject a theory
- a prevailing/widely accepted theory
- in theory
Word family
theorize / theorise verbtheoretical adjectivetheoretically adverb
Common mistakes
many theory→many theories
the theory explain→the theory explains
Say it for a higher band
5idea→6explanation→7+theory
Synonyms
explanation
hypothesis
Easily confused
hypothesis
“The researchers formulated a hypothesis to test whether the drug reduced symptoms.”
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