What is the right verb for “measurement”?

Question

I have to describe the act of measuring, with measurement used as noun. What are the verbs which fit?

taking a measurement

making a measurement

doing a measurement

carrying out a measurement (suggested by Google translate)

performing a measurement

Does it work the same for the passive form (the measurement has been taken)?

The context:

It provides a [...] set of probing points with which it's possible to easily take measurements; these have been carried out using a DC power analyzer ...

The action appears two times, hence the need for synonyms.

Answer 1

Most commonly we say to "take a measurement", "make a measurement", or simply to "measure". Either can come in all the different tenses. "Please take some measurements of the temperature." "Yesterday I measured my room so I'd know how much paint to buy." "We will make some measurements of the energy released during the experiment tomorrow."

I don't think I've ever heard a native speaker use any of the other options you give. Maybe in the right context any of them could be valid, but they certainly wouldn't be conventional.

Instead of saying "Take a measuremement of length/temperature/whatever", we often just say "take the temperature", "take the height", etc.

Meauring weight is special: You don't usually say, "We measured the weight of the box", you say, "We weighed the box". I can't think of any other measures like that. No one says, "We lengthed the height" or "We temperatured the liquid". Sometimes we talk about "clocking the speed" rather than "measuring the speed", especially when talking about the speed of a vehicle.

Answer 2

Taking sounds best to my ear. And yes, the measurement has been taken is the passive form.

Alternate forms:

• I took the measurement this morning.
• We should have measured this couch before attempting to move it.
• I cannot measure this without outside calipers.
• She is measuring the flour for the cookies.

Answer 3

verb+MEASUREMENT (from The Oxford Collocations Dictionary, 2009)

calculate

carry out

get

make

obtain

perform

record

take

convert

Answer 4

Directly taking your example:

... set of probing points with which it's possible to easily take measurements; these have been carried out using a DC power analyzer

I could rewrite, avoiding the use of measurements as...

... set of probing points with which it's possible to easily capture readings; these have been carried out using a DC power analyzer

With more context, I could potentially replace readings and measurements with voltages, currents, resistences or other electrical properties.

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As a side note, an analyzer is an American device, the English use an analyser.

Edit:

To clarify more generally, measurement is not a verb. The verb is measure and has been suffixed with -ment to create a noun with several meanings. One of these is the condition of being measured or of measuring for instance,

The man was taking a measurement with a tape.

However, in your context measurement is the noun for the result of the measuring action. A subtle difference but relevant when choosing a correct synonym. For example,

The man took a measurement with a tape.

Or more tautologically

He measured a measurement.

In this reference you are using definition 2 or 3 of the 4.

So, you need a synonym for "the result of a measurement". If you know what you are measuring than you can substitute measurement for a quantity of the thing that is being measured. If you need to be generic then you could use terms like quantities, readings, parameters, metrics or properties and many others. As ever, the appropriateness of each of these choices is bounded by the context of usage.