Does "have experience..." take a preposition?

Question

I often struggle with whether "experience + noun/gerund" should include a preposition — and no matter how much digging I do in style manuals, dictionaries, and web search results, I never come to a satisfying conclusion.

Would this sentence take the preposition with?

The leader describes having experience saying no to ideas or projects.

The leader describes having experience with saying no to ideas or projects.

(For this particular example, I've ruled out "experience in," which seems to me as though it would refer to something like a field: I have experience in botany.)

To my ear, it sounds more natural to include a preposition to separate a long string of three nouns/gerunds (having + experience + saying). But I haven't been able to locate a rule or precedent, and I frequently see it without.

Answer 1

According to Ngram Viewer, "experience + -ing" and "experience in + -ing" are substantially more common than "experience with + -ing" for a wide range of verbs: buying, managing, helping, and, in your case, saying.

It seems like "experience with" before a gerund is somewhat acceptable for at least some verbs, but using the preposition "in" or omitting the preposition entirely would be more idiomatic.

Answer 2

Use either "in" or "of". Two credible sources indicate they are appropriate for gerund phrases:

Extracted from definition of "experience" Oxford Dictionary site https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/experience_1?q=experience :

• experience of something, e.g. Do you have any previous experience of this type of work? This new approach draws on years of experience of teaching children to read.

• experience in doing something, e.g. a doctor with experience in dealing with patients suffering from stress

• experience in something; e.g. He gained extensive experience in the field of artificial intelligence whilst working on the project.

• experience as something, e.g. I have over ten years’ experience as a teacher.

• experience with something, e.g.The course provides hands-on experience with various systems.

and extracted from the Cambridge Dictionary site (with its seemingly conflicting use of "of") https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/nouns-and-prepositions :

Extract of an example of an error with the word "experience":

"Do you have any previous experience of working with children?"

(usually followed by the -ing form of a verb)

Not: "… previous experience in working with children?"

"She has ten years’ experience in television and radio." (usually followed by a noun)

Not: "… ten years’ experience on television and radio."

And finally a pertinent discussion on the importance of context (what do you want to convey) from someone named "Yuri" (2016) here https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/85691/experience-in-with-no-preposition-do-we-have-to-use-a-preposition-after-exp with only the extract discussing the importance of what definition of "experience" and prepositions are used for gerunds (and states that he quoted it from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English):

1[U] knowledge or skill that you gain from doing a job or activity, or the process of doing this. It's about knowledge or skills In this sense we can use of/in/with after experience to make noun phrases or gerund as in

"You’ve got a lot of experience of lecturing."

"my experience in many areas of the music business"

in is often followed by a gerund. However noun phrases are also possible. 'Experience in' implies the person has been (professionally) trained in something (a special field of activity) as in

"We need someone who has experience in ​marketing and ​teaching."

and after of, we mainly use gerund unless the word 'experience' is preceded by get/gain as in

"The programme enables pupils to gain some experience of the world of work."

I didn't include the with example as it isn't used with gerunds in the citation.

Hope that clarifies my answer of use "in" or "of" depending on your context.

As Yuri, I didn't find any references that were credible on the non-use of prepositions before a gerund phrase. I did find forums where persons suggested this is possible, but I'd recommend using a preposition for written work. When speaking, an American would not be shocked if you didn't have a preposition in the above example (and that is only based on my opinion).

Answer 3

In the example first cited, no preposition is required. I believe one answer said it is situational. I agree with that. Try saying it out loud. If it doesn’t sound right, find another way to say it.

Answer 4

Both are grammatical. The lack of preposition may be perceived by some as colloquial or even as unpolished, but there's no good reason for that, IMO, although prepositions with -ing forms, in my experience, are used more often in formal writing, and the absence of preposition occurs more often in everyday speech contexts. To see whether this is actually the case and not just a matter of anecdotal evidence or idiosyncratic experience, you'd have to consult a corpus of spoken English and a corpus of written English, and compare results.

He don't have a lick of experience restoring old masonry.

He has negligible experience restoring old masonry.

Your Honor, the contractor claimed to have much experience with restoring old masonry, but in reality had none; he used the wrong kind of mortar and damaged my client's property.

[I made those sentences up as examples.]