Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[stevenukd]

Dear Teachers,

1. In my experience, honesty is the best policy.
- Can I say �from my experience� or �to my experience� instead of �in my experience�?

2. I am far from being a parent but I think that is not true.
- �I am far from being a parent� means �I�m now not married or not a parent�, right?

3. I have heard that it has helped straighten out a lot of kids.
- �help straighten out a lot of kids� here means �help make a lot of kids better kids�, right?

Thanks a lot to Teachers,

Stevenukd

[CP]

1. "In my experience" would be more common in that sentence, but "from my experience" would not be outrageously wrong. "From my experience" would be more commonly used this way: "From my experience, I can tell you that siphoning gasoline by sucking on a hose is a very bad idea."

2. Yes. Whenever someone is far from X, it means that X does not apply now and probably won't apply for a long time / without a big change in something.

3. To straighten out means to correct / set straight / provide correct information.

When someone goes astray in some way, whether misbehaving or misunderstanding, you can straighten the person out by making him or her behave correctly or get the right information. Here, it means that "it" (whatever the subject of the thing is) has helped wayward children reform. I hope this has straightened out the meaning of this idiom for you.
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