noun
1
BAD : I made my first teaching experience in Scotland.
GOOD : I had my first teaching experience in Scotland.
BAD : While I was going home, I made a bad experience.
GOOD : While I was going home, I had a bad experience.
◆◆◆
have an experience (NOT make ): 'The streets were full of beggars and we had one or two very unpleasant experiences.'
DO · HAVE · MAKE · TAKE
Many phrases begin with a very common very such as do, make, have, or take : ‘I felt very nervous about taking the test but, after having a long talk with Mrs Fisher, I decided I would just do my best and try not to make too many silly mistakes .’ These verbs can be combined with some nouns but not with others and since they do not have a clear meaning of their own, choosing the right combination can be a problem. Phrases which tend to cause difficulty are shown below.
HAVE
have a bath (or esp. AmE take ) ‘She’s probably upstairs having a bath.’
Have (your) breakfast ‘We usually have breakfast in the kitchen.’
Have (your) dinner ‘We had dinner and then went for a walk.’
Have a drink ‘I’ll collapse if I don’t have a drink soon.’
Have (an) experience ‘He has no experience of running a large company.’
Have fun ‘You can’t stop people from having fun.’
Have a holiday ‘It’s almost a year since we had a real holiday.’
Have an interview ‘I’ve had six interviews but no one has offered me a job.’
Have a lesson ‘Every morning we have three fifty-minute lessons.’
Have (your) lunch ‘Isn’t it about time we had lunch?’
Have an operation ‘Before I had the operation I could hardly walk.’
Have a party ‘On Saturday we’re having a party.’
Have a picnic ‘If it’s sunny we could have a picnic.’
Have a shower (or esp. AmE take) ‘It only takes me a minute to have a shower.’
TAKE
Take/do an examination ‘Why do we have to take so many tests?’
Take (your) medicine ‘Don’t forget to take your medicine.’
Take a pill ‘He refuses to take sleeping pills.’
Take/do a test ‘The last test I took was a disaster.’
MAKE
Make an effort ‘I had to make a big effort not to laugh.’
Make a journey ‘It was the first journey he’d made all on his own.’
Make a mistake ‘He has made a serious mistake.’
Make a noise ‘How can one small child make so much noise?’
Make progress ‘I made very little progress at the start of the course.’
DO
Do your best ‘Don’t worry, Tim. Just do your best.’
Do (or cause) damage ‘The storm did a lot of damage to the crops.’
Do an exercise ‘Have you done your exercises today?’
Do an experiment ‘To do this experiment, you’ll need two eggs.’
Do (sb) good ‘The holiday has done him a lot of good.’
Do harm ‘A scandal would do his reputation a lot of harm.’
Do your homework ‘Have you done your homework yet?’
Do a job ‘I’ve got one or two jobs to do this evening.’
Do the/some shopping ‘Jake has gone into town to do some shopping.’
Do research ‘We need to do a lot more research.’
Do things ‘We’ve done lots of different things today.’
Do your training ‘Where did you do your training?’
Note also: do something/anything etc: ‘I can’t come now – I’m doing something.’ ‘He hasn’t done anything wrong.'
2
BAD : If I go to England, I'll have a lot of experiences.
GOOD : If I go to England, I'll have a lot of new experiences.
◆◆◆
When experience means 'something that happens to you', it is usually modified: 'The book is based on her experiences as a reporter in El Salvador.' 'Don't give up just because of one bad experience.' 'The trip to Niagara Falls was an unforgettable experience.'
3
BAD : I hadn't made any experience of changing a car wheel.
GOOD : I hadn't had any experience of changing a car wheel.
◆◆◆
have no/little/some/considerable etc experience (NOT make ): 'Most of the school inspectors had at least ten years' teaching experience.'
See language note above
4
BAD : I knew that he had no experience driving in the dark.
GOOD : I knew that he had no experience of driving in the dark.
BAD : Older people have had more experience in life.
GOOD : Older people have had more experience of life.
◆◆◆
have no/little/some/considerable etc experience of (doing) sth
'Do you have any previous experience of looking after children?'
5
BAD : Many of us have had experiences of living overseas.
GOOD : Many of us have had experience of living overseas.
◆◆◆
When you are talking about someone's life as a whole, experience is uncountable: 'Salary will depend upon qualifications and experience.'