Material

use material

Not many people realise that Romans were the first to use concrete as a building material.

make from material

We can assure our customers that all our products are made from natural materials.

modify material

I think it would be wrong to allow scientists to modify human genetic material in order to produce the ‘perfect’ human being.

treat material

The outer material of the garment has been treated with wax to make it waterproof.

recycle material

One aim of the Green movement is to encourage people to recycle more of their waste materials.

contain material

A lot of older buildings contain harmful materials such as asbestos.

raw material

My country has few natural resources and has to import most of its raw materials.

inflammable material

Highly inflammable materials like petrol have to be handled with great care.

hard-wearing material

Seat covers on trains and buses take a lot of wear and tear so they need to be made from strong, hard-wearing materials.

recyclable material

Our products are environmentally-friendly. We package all of them in recyclable materials.

synthetic material

Most synthetic materials can be put in a washing machine. Unlike many natural fabrics they don’t shrink when washed.

hardest material

Diamonds are one of the hardest materials known to man.

radioactive material

The transport of radioactive material is still one of the biggest problems for the power industry.

waste material

Waste materials should be recycled whenever possible.

publicity material

All sorts of publicity materials are being used to promote the latest video – Tv ads, videos, posters and leaflets.

classified material

These documents relating to the last war won’t be available to the public for 50 years as they contain classified material.

reading material

I’ve listed some useful reading material at the end of the handout.

indecent material

Employees caught downloading indecent material from the internet will be sacked immediately.

copyright material

I’m afraid this is copyright material. You’re not allowed to copy more than 10% of it and only for private use.

fresh material

The band can’t go on playing the same old songs year after year. It’s time they produced some fresh new material.

valuable material

Professor Smith travelled the world gathering valuable material for his book.

relevant material

When I was researching my family tree, I found a lot of relevant material in the public library.

 

Notes

• In ‘Employees caught downloading indecent material from the internet will be sacked immediately.’, ‘’obscene’ is also possible.
• Note the following:

He’s a good soldier bur I don’t think he is officer material. (not good enough to be an officer)

• We talk about building, reading, teaching and writing materials:

There were bricks, cement and other building materials scattered all over the site.

There is always a shortage of teaching materials in this school.

You’ll find some paper and writing materials over there on the desk.

• Notice this expression using noun + of + material:

Samples of the material were sent for analysis.

• remember that ‘material’ can be used as a general term to mean ‘things’. It also has a specific meaning when it means ‘cloth’:

Her coat was made of very expensive material.