ESL Linguistics Discussion Forum

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

Clive — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:29:25 GMT

Hi,

Here's another small comment.

The word 'expertise' is not directly related to a report of any kind.

An 'expert report' would be something one that is written by someone who possesses expertise.

In other words, you can't simply replace one term with the other.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

shaved — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:09:59 GMT

noncounting noun is noncounting

"John's has expertise in a variety of fields."

"Bill and Kathy have been living in Kenya for 8 years. Their expertise in regional politics is considerable."

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:59:26 GMT

As a native English speaker, I would say "two areas of expertise" rather than "two expertise" as this does not sound right.

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:59:16 GMT

Hi Aristo,

Unfortunately I cannot shed light on the question of the legitimacy of 'expertises' in the english language. I only write to sympathize: I too am trying to figure out what the plural of 'expertise' is. I have a feeling that 'expertise' is both the singular and the plural, but I have gotten away with writing 'expertises' in a scholarly paper, so I don't know what to think.

Unsure,

Rachel

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

abbie1948 — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 11:07:29 GMT

Hi Aristo,

If you go here
Post:23 you can find out about hyperlinks. Alternatively, you can simply copy and paste a web address into your post. Please read the terms and conditions first.

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

Aristo — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:24:56 GMT

Thanks Abbie

That's what I feared.

Since you are a moderator - a general question: is there a way of placing a link in similar forums to, say, this one, so the entire text centents doesn't need to be repeated?

Aristo

Re: Expertise required on Expertises (?)

abbie1948 — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:08:52 GMT

Helo Aristo, and welcome to the forums. I think "expertise" is an uncountable noun, and therefore has no plural.

Expertise required on Expertises (?)

Aristo — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 09:24:34 GMT

Who knows?

So far, I've been searching in vain for the plural of the noun EXPPERTISE in the English language. In the course of 'googling' for it, I came across this forum, enrolled here and hope to be enlighted by someone who could possibly help - with authority.

Preliminarily, the sentence in which I would want to apply the plural form reads:

"We provide EXPERT REPORTS and appraisals for insurance and claims purposes."

In this case, EXPERT REPORTS - ideally to be replaced with EXPPERTISES - shall refer to a written document concerning the fine arts and antiques business. In view of that, EXPERT REPORTS, though correct, sounds too technical-related and, therefore, doesn't quite hit it. Instead, I would like to use EXPPERTISES. But, whereas the plural noun "parentheses", for example, is almost music to my ears, the word EXPPERTISES sounds laboured, somewhat unnatural. Nonehteless, if it were correct, I'd like to use it. But I wonder whether it exists at all.

In other languages - i.e. French, German or Dutch - the plural of EXPPERTISE sounds totally natural and is used all the time. There the word has an elegance to it, even in the English singular - no wonder, having been adopted.

Should anyone be able to shed some light on the subject, I'd be most grateful and, if EXPPERTISES exists indeed, appreciate learning of the source where it can be found.

Thank you.

Aristo