Experience or experiment?
We use experience as a verb when something happens to us, or we feel it. It is rather formal: I experienced a feeling of deep sadness as I entered the refugee camp.
Customers have experienced problems in finding parking places at the mall.
Warning:
We don’t use live instead of experience: How children behave when they grow up depends on what they experience during early childhood.
Not: … what they live during early childhood.
Experiment as a verb means ‘try something in order to discover what it is like or to find out more about it’: Scientists have experimented with liquids and gels in which plants can grow artificially.
I wish the government would stop experimenting with new teaching methods for our kids every couple of years.
Warning:
We don’t use experiment when we are talking about feelings or things which happen: She suddenly experienced a sensation of homesickness.
Not: … experimented a sensation …
The company’s Asia branch experienced a sharp drop in profits in 2007.
Not: … experimented a sharp drop…
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