You're the expert.

[Silverobama]

At an English club, I was chatting with Bob and Mike. Bob kept asking me questions about astrology because I once talked about that with him online and Mike was listening. Mike knows far better about the subject than me. Bob later asked me a question and I couldn't answer but I tried to. In the middle of my answering, I got stuck because I really didn't know. I looked at Mike because he was listening and said "You're the expert please tell us more about that". Mike smiled and told us what he knew.

Is this sentence natural?

 

[emsr2d2]

"You're the expert please tell us more about that".

Do you really believe that no other punctuation is required somewhere in those nine words?

 

[Silverobama]

Do you really believe that no other punctuation is required somewhere in those nine words?

How about:

You're the expert. Please tell us more about that.

Is this natural?

 

[5jj]

Much better.

 

[emsr2d2]

Recently/Last night/A week ago, at an English club, I was chatting with Bob and Mike.

I keep telling you to open with some sort of time reference rather than just a past tense, yet here we are again!

Bob kept asking me questions about astrology because we once talked about that it with him online and Mike was listening.

Do you mean on a group call, video call or something similar? When I see "we talked online", I assume you mean by text, email or WhatsApp. With the those last three, it's impossible for someone to be listening.

Mike knows far better more about the subject than me.

Whilst we do say things like "You should know better" and "He knows better than anyone", you needed the simple "more" here.

Bob Later on, Bob asked me a one particular question and that I couldn't answer but I tried to.

You said at the start that Bob was already asking you questions, so simply saying "Later, Bob asked me a question" doesn't really make sense. You need to emphasise the point that, of those questions, this was one you couldn't answer.

In the middle of my answering, I got stuck! because I really didn't know.

You already said you didn't know the answer so there's no need to repeat that.

I looked at Mike because he was listening and said "You're the expert. Please tell us more!" about that".

You opened by saying you were talking to both Bob and Mike so it's clear all three of you are in the conversation. You don't need to point out that Mike was listening at this point because we assume he's been paying attention throughout.

Mike smiled and told us what he knew.

Was it a smug smile?
I'd probably say "Mike smiled and answered the question".

 

[Silverobama]

I keep telling you to open with some sort of time reference rather than just a past tense, yet here we are again!

I will definitely do that in the future. I'm not challenging you and other mods here. I was trying to save your time because I usually typed too much in the past and no one came to help.

Do you mean on a group call, video call or something similar? When I see "we talked online", I assume you mean by text, email or WhatsApp. With the those last three, it's impossible for someone to be listening.

You're right. I should have said "We typed".

Again, I'm so grateful for your detailed explanations and answers.

 

[güey]

You are the expert. Emphasis on "you". Refers to a specific expert, the one that is present among the speakers.

Another option:
You are an expert. Emphasis on "expert". Would imply that, incidentally, there's an expert among us on the matter in question.

Is that reasoning correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

The problem with that is that we don't put the stress on "the" in that sentence. We put it, if anywhere, on "You're".

 

[güey]

We put it, if anywhere, on "You're".

That's what I said too:

Emphasis on "you".

I typed the articles in bold simply to highlight the difference in usage.

 

[BobK]

The problem with that is that we don't put the stress on "the" in that sentence. We put it, if anywhere, on "You're".

Only one problem? ;-) In one (very rare) case we could stress the 'the', but it would change the meaning.'She is the authority on <topic>' means 'No one else knows more'.

 

[güey]

Only one problem? ;-)

What other problems apart from the one that resulted from the misreading?

In one (very rare) case we could stress the 'the', but it would change the meaning.'She is the authority on <topic>' means 'No one else knows more'.

Another, (really) rare, case would be "thuh authority", to point up that it's "the" not "a". I remember encountering this usage in a commercial.

 

[emsr2d2]

Another, (really) rare, case would be "thuh authority", to point up that it's "the" not "a". I remember encountering this usage in a commercial.

Which variant of English was being used in that commercial? In BrE, it's "thee authority", regardless of the meaning of the rest of the sentence.

What does the underlined part mean in the quote box above?

 

[güey]

It was AE:

What does the underlined part mean in the quote box above?

I intended it to mean "emphasize".