Word Usage – What Verb to Use for a Roll Call Example?

word-usage

The teacher entered the classroom and did/made/read/gave a roll call.

From the results I found on google, it seems as if the term "roll call" (a reading of the students' name to check if they are present) is not used this way and none of the options in bold are common. What are the most used phrases to say what I mean in the example?

Best Answer

This US English speaker would say that the teacher called roll or called the roll, because in roll call, the noun is call, and the verb that you do with a call is, well, call it.

For example,

In Sunday school one day, he called roll...

The roll was called.

...some groups rotate how they call roll.

This usage actually seems to be more common than make or take or do a roll call or anything else: Google Ngrams graph here

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