grammar - "Research" vs "research paper."



Tommy was sitting on his desk, flipping through Mrs. Johnson's last research (paper).



Can I omit paper in cases like this? Is it more common to say research paper than just research?


(The research I'm referring to is not necessary an academic one. It could be a personal project, too).



Answer



It depends on which verbs you use. These are okay:



Tommy reviewed/studied/considered Mrs Johnson's research.



But I don't think you can with the verb flip through. When you use research as a mass noun it doesn't have particular form: reviewing research means reviewing the ideas, not the sheets of paper or Word documents that convey those ideas. So if you want to talk about flipping through then the object would have to be something physical:



Tommy flipped through Mrs Johnson's research papers/folder/notes.



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