Help with English: "Maybe, perhaps, possibly, probably"

[Fraggle Rocker]

Judgement or judgment?

Both are correct in American writing.

1. My judgement is that today I shall stay at home and study. 2. My discretion is that today I shall stay at home and study. -- Both means the same?

First off, you need to learn how to form a question in English. "Do both mean the same?" Once you learn that so you never make a mistake, then you can experiment with colloquial language. We might say informally, "Both mean the same?" but usually only in speech, never in writing. But since "both" means "two" and two of something is plural, you have to use the plural form of the verb: mean, not means.

Back to the question... Your use of "discretion" is simply wrong. I suppose the listener/reader would correctly figure out what you are trying to say, but we never use "discretion" in that way. Discretion is much more than judgment. I'm not going to go into the definitions here; please spend more time in your dictionary! If you don't have a good one, please become more familiar with Dictionary.com.

[Fraggle Rocker]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15017023

Please do us the courtesy of extracting the specific passages which you think are in error. We don't want to have to read the entire article when all we want to do is find grammatical errors, rather than learning about the topic.

2. All have children. (they still have children now)

Without finding the quote I can't be sure, but this is a very complicated issue. It has to do with the subjunctive mode and subordinate clauses, two things that you don't have in Chinese.

BBC seems do not write good English, right?

Neither do you. I think you meant so say, "BBC seems to not write good English."

In America we always say the BBC, but I'm not sure how they say it in the UK. We don't say "the NBC" or "the CBS," perhaps they regard their counterpart the same way.

[Saint]

It was written as:
So faith and confidence is ebbing away.

I think "are" instead of is.

[Saint]

1. Let me tell you my experience of mountaineering.
2. Let me tell you my experiences of mountaineering.

My working experience or My working experiences?

Can experience be used as plural?

[Fraggle Rocker]

So faith and confidence is ebbing away. -- I think "are" instead of is.

Yes, especially in writing. But people do talk that way in informal conversation.

1. Let me tell you my experience of mountaineering. -- 2. Let me tell you my experiences of mountaineering.

Those are both pretty awkward and don't sound like a native speaker. "Let me tell you about my experience with mountaineering."

Or: "Let me tell you about my mountaineering experiences."

If you're speaking or writing formally, you can say, "Let me tell you of my experiences (or experience) as a mountaineer." (More on discrete versus continuous measures, further down.) But that would be a little "bookish" for casual conversation.

My working experience or My working experiences?

If this is for your resumé (or "CV"--curriculum vitae--as the Brits call it) we say "my work experience." In a less formal context we'd say "my sailing experience," "my cooking experience," etc. If you're just chatting about something you've only done a couple of times, then you'd say, "my camping experiences," or "my experiences on a sailboat."

Can experience be used as plural?

It depends on whether you're using it as a discrete measure or a continuous measure.

I have more than ten years of experience (or ten years' experience) with this software: that's a continuous measure.

I had two or three disastrous experiences on a sailboat: that's a discrete measure.

It's like wine. I sampled several different wines on my tour through Mendocino County: that's a discrete variable.

My friend drank about a gallon of wine last night and didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning: that's a continuous variable.

[Captain Kremmen]

That's a good one. I can see why you find it difficult.
The better phrase is number 1.

Let me tell you my experience of mountaineering.
Meaning:
"Let me describe to you what I think about mountaineering, from personal experience"
You would continue to talk generally about mountaineering.

But you might phrase number two slightly differently.
"Let me tell you about my experiences while mountaineering"

That would mean:
"Let me tell you particular events that happened when I was mountaineering."
You might talk about a tough climb that you had where you nearly died, and other things that happened.

[Saint]

Thank you Fraggle,
you are really my English teacher.
I am sorry that I did not pay you tuition fee.

[Saint]

1. Aluminum has higher thermal conductivity compared with iron.
2. Aluminum has higher thermal conductivity compared to iron.

Compared with and compared to, are they used in the same way? Interchangable?

[Saint]

Let me tell you about my experience of mountaineering.

Also correct?

[Captain Kremmen]

Thank you Fraggle,
you are really my English teacher.
I am sorry that I did not pay you tuition fee.

You are lucky to get such a good teacher.
But you are a good pupil too.
You ask good questions.

[Saint]

I will buy one Cambridge English to study seriously, I saw it in UK's bookshop with a CD, selling at a price of 15 pounds, I guessed it is more expensive there than Malaysia, so decided to buy it here.

[Captain Kremmen]

You might consider this as well:


I can't recommend it myself, because I haven't read it.
But if you go on to Amazon and look at the reviews of the book, they are very complimentary.

[Saint]

I have it, but the old version one that I bought when I was a student in 1991.

[Fraggle Rocker]

1. Aluminum has higher thermal conductivity compared with iron.

This is simply wrong. We almost always say "compared to," almost never "compared with."

If aluminum is compared with iron, aluminum has higher thermal conductivity. But even here, "compared to" would be more commonly used.

2. Aluminum has higher thermal conductivity compared to iron.

This is not grammatically incorrect, but it's just not the right way to say it. Why not "aluminum has higher thermal conductivity than iron? Isn't that easier?

Compared with and compared to, are they used in the same way? Interchangable?

No. In some cases you might be able to choose either one, but not generally.

Let me tell you about my experience of mountaineering. Also correct?

No. Experience in, experience with, experience on, probably a couple of others that don't spring to mind, but never experience of. And they are not generally interchangeable, although they may be in a few specific cases.

[Saint]

Money is countable,
why can't I say I have many moneys?

[Search & Destroy]

Money is countable,
why can't I say I have many moneys?

5 Questions to facilitate your understanding:

1. How many monies do you have in your wallet?
2. Am I talking about your bills, your coins, your wu-mao qian, or your dollars?
3. If I have 5, 6, or 1000 monies, what does that mean?
4. How is that different from having 5, 6, or 1000 coins or dollars?
5. How certain are you that money is countable?

[Saint]

money is number, you can do arithmetic on it.

[Walter L. Wagner]

Do you have American money, or European money, or Chinese money in your wallet? How many different monies do you carry in your wallet?

[Saint]

only Ringgit.
it is money, countable,
I have many monies in my wallet.

[Saint]

1. I need some more times to complete this job.
2. I need some more time to complete this job.

Can time be used as plural?