experience

An experience is something that happens. This word can be used as either a count noun or a noncount noun. It’s necessary to know the difference between them.

In the first set of examples, "experience" is a noncount noun that refers to knowledge gained from activity that occurred over a period of time:

• How much experience do you have?
• Was living in Europe a good experience?
• Abel has a lot of experience as a musician.
• Cynthia has military experience.

In these sentences and questions, the word "experience" is a count noun. It’s similar to the word "situation."

• Bob and Lauren had an interesting experience when they visited Africa.
• Matt had some bad experiences at the dentist when he was a boy.
• Several good experiences as a student led Jennifer into the teaching profession.
• This has been a long and tiring experience.

The "word" experience is also a regular verb:

• The passengers experienced a little turbulence during the flight.
• The patient said she has been experiencing some pain in her stomach.
• We’re experiencing some problems with our satellite.
• Travelers on the highway were warned that they might experience some delays due to road construction.

You can use "experienced" as an adjective:

• She’s a very experienced dentist.
• He’s experienced as an actor.
• They said that the person doing the work is very experienced.
• An experienced negotiator is handling the situation.

*Thanks to Blue Level Chat Room survivors for this suggestion!

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Published April 27, 2013