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if I went to ask what are some of the sources of education where a person get knowledge from, how can I say this in a more formal way? I'm not native native English speaker, still learning so I still don't know what are the proper words in this case.

The phase is:

What are some other sources of education that you have done?

so possible answers would be: "I taught myself since age X", "online courses", "I participated of K community" and so on. I'd like to replace "that you have done" by something more formal but feel free to rewrite the whole phase, if you want to do so. Any help is appreciated.

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  • A source of education is not an action, it is an entity. This means that you can't use 'done' with 'source of education' since only actions can be done. You can say "What learning (or studying) have you done?" because learning and studying are actions. You can also say "What sources of education have you used (or employed, or exploited)?" because sources are things you can use. There are lots of other questions you can ask but we would need to know more clearly what you are trying to ask before we can make useful suggestions.
    – BoldBen
    Sep 10, 2020 at 15:56

2 Answers 2

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The clause “that you have done” is perfectly good, formal English.

Unfortunately, as the comment points out, “sources of education” is not an action, and therefore it cannot be “done.” So “sources of education that you have done” is neither formal nor informal; it is simply not idiomatic in any register.

The verb you need is “use.”

“What other sources of education have you used” is correct, but quite stilted.

“What else have you used while learning X” strikes me as a very natural way to elicit information about sources of information about X.

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A term more general than most, that will include activities not formally dedicated to learning but which are nonetheless didactic, is "draw".

(OALD) to draw sth from sth/sb: phrasal verb ; to take or obtain sth from a particular source; to draw support/comfort/strength from your family; she drew her inspiration from her childhood experience.

  • What are some other sources and means that you have drawn your education from?

An answer can include all sources and means.

  • I've drawn my education from various sources and means, self-study, online courses, frequent conversation, reading, cinema, personal research of certain subjects, and so on.
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  • For a non-native speaker, it may be worth pointing out that this is "draw" in the sense of "pull" or "select", not "draw" with its more common meaning of "make a picture". Sep 11, 2020 at 7:03
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    @MitchellSpector The check you occasioned showed that the prepositions were not exact; I changed them.
    – LPH
    Sep 11, 2020 at 7:47

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