Language tip of the week: way

In this weekly post, we bring more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary to English language learners. These tips are usually based on areas of English which learners find difficult, e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, synonyms, etc.

This week’s language tip helps with other ways of saying way:

method a way of doing something that involves following a detailed plan:
He has his own method of making coffee.
means a way that makes it possible to do something:
Unfortunately, we have no means of storing the information.
system a way of doing something that involves following an organized set of rules:
They’ve been using the American spelling system for many years now.
procedure a way of doing something that involves doing specific activities in a particular order:
He asked whether the interrogation was normal police procedure.
technique a way of doing something that involves using particular skills:
I’ll show you the technique for opening this lock.
strategy a way of achieving an aim that involves detailed planning:
a strategy to reduce the deficit