difficulty to express

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "difficulty to express" is not correct in standard written English.
A more appropriate form would be "difficulty expressing" or "difficulty in expressing." Example: "She had difficulty expressing her thoughts during the meeting."

⚠ May contain grammatical issues

Science

News & Media

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

4 human-written examples

One of the major difficulties of developing serological test for the detection of M. pneumoniae is the difficulty to express its proteins in heterologous expression system as the Mycoplasmas use the UGA opal codon to incorporate tryptophan rather than as a stop codon as in the universal genetic code [ 31], leading to premature termination of the protein synthesis.

BMC Infectious Diseases

Alexithymia concerns incapacity or difficulty to express emotions through words.

The Journal of Headache and Pain

The first is the difficulty to express complex outcomes through a single money measure.

Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica

One of the challenges for biochemical characterization of p300/CBP is the difficulty to express and purify active enzyme.

Chemical Reviews

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

56 human-written examples

Not for Jeremy Duke, 54, a creative therapist, who spends much of his life helping adults with learning difficulties to express themselves through art.

The Guardian

Although they had difficulties to express their needs, their disabilities were not an absolute hindrance once they had cognitive functions and skills that could be employed in some PD practices.

Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society

On the one hand, this observation might be the consequence of technical difficulties to express Plasmodium proteins in yeast and sampling issues that arise from choosing random fragments to screen.

Plosone

For example, one non-user was dyslexic and stated that he finds it easier to speak to his GP face-to-face due to the difficulties to express himself.

BMC Health Services Research

In the literature it has been pointed out that persons with dementia might need extended time to assimilate impressions, and they often have difficulties to express their needs and verbalise ideas due to working memory impairment [ 2, 4].

BMC Geriatrics

This problem can be simplified by using a Lagrangian formulation, in which case the only major difficulty is to express the influence of turbulence on calculated trajectories.

Chemical Engineering Science

To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself... Anybody can have ideas -- the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.

Huffington Post

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "difficulty expressing" or "difficulty in expressing" for grammatical correctness. For example, 'She has difficulty expressing her feelings' is better than 'She has difficulty to express her feelings'.

Common error

The phrase "difficulty to express" incorrectly uses "to" where either a gerund ('expressing') or a prepositional phrase ('in expressing') is required. Always double-check preposition usage in similar constructions.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "difficulty to express" functions as a noun phrase, typically acting as the subject or object of a sentence. While grammatically flawed, it attempts to denote a challenge or problem in conveying thoughts, feelings, or information as demonstrated by Ludwig examples.

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

Science

50%

News & Media

50%

Formal & Business

0%

Less common in

Academia

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

The phrase "difficulty to express" is flagged by Ludwig AI as grammatically incorrect. The correct alternatives are "difficulty expressing" or "difficulty in expressing". Although some examples of its usage can be found in Science and News & Media sources, it's essential to use the grammatically correct forms for clear and effective communication. Consider alternatives like "struggle to express" or "challenge to articulate" to convey the intended meaning accurately.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

difficulty in expressing

Corrects the grammatical structure by adding "in" before "expressing".

difficulty articulating

Replaces "to express" with the single word "articulating", offering a more concise alternative.

struggle to express

Substitutes "difficulty" with "struggle", implying a greater effort in conveying something.

challenge to articulate

Replaces "difficulty" with "challenge", suggesting a demanding task in expressing.

trouble expressing

Similar to "hard time expressing", but slightly more formal.

hard time expressing

Uses a more informal expression, replacing "difficulty" with "hard time".

find it hard to express

Adds a personal element, indicating the speaker's subjective experience.

inability to express

Indicates a complete lack of capacity to convey something, stronger than just difficulty.

expressing is difficult

Inverts the sentence structure to emphasize the act of expressing itself.

deficient in expressing

Uses a formal term, deficient, in expressing, which indicates lacking something

FAQs

Is it grammatically correct to say "difficulty to express"?

No, it's not grammatically correct. The correct forms are "difficulty expressing" or "difficulty in expressing". Ludwig AI confirms that "difficulty to express" is not standard written English.

What are some alternatives to "difficulty to express"?

Instead of "difficulty to express", you can use alternatives such as "difficulty expressing", "difficulty in expressing", or "struggle to express".

How can I improve my sentence if I used "difficulty to express"?

Replace "difficulty to express" with grammatically correct alternatives. For instance, change "He has difficulty to express his emotions" to "He has difficulty expressing his emotions".

What's the difference between "difficulty expressing" and "difficulty in expressing"?

Both "difficulty expressing" and "difficulty in expressing" are grammatically correct and convey similar meanings. The choice often depends on stylistic preference, although "difficulty in expressing" might be perceived as slightly more formal.