Years(') of experience

Subject: Years(') of experience
From: geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 14:01:47 -0600

One thing to remember is that some phrases, such as "2
years [or years'] experience", are idiomatic, and thus
immune to analysis logic and grammar. Grammatically, it
would probably be "2 years' experience" because, as others
have noted, it is "the experience of [possessed by] two
years". It's still an awkard phrase.

If all else fails, and the wording still looks odd to you,
it's probably best to reword so that it doesn't look odd.
Something like "I have 2 years of experience..." or "I have
worked for 2 years on..." would work on a resume. To tie
this in with the resume thread, you should _always_ reword
something if you're aware of issues such as these; you
might be grammatically correct, but if the interviewer
doesn't think so, it's a pyrrhic victory. Moreover,
choosing a grammatically debatable phrase over a simpler
and clearer wording doesn't really showcase your writing
talents.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)} geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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