Question
Updated on
21 Sep 2021
- Spanish (Mexico)
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
Is it correct to say: " He happened to turn on the light" ? sb wrote this sentence and it sounds weird to me. I' m not sure about it.
Is it correct to say: " He happened to turn on the light" ? sb wrote this sentence and it sounds weird to me. I' m not sure about it.
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- English (US)
It seems grammatically correct but I agree that it's a bit strange. I think the "happened to" part is what's unusual. It would be more direct to say "He turned on the light". However, in context, it might make sense to keep it as is.
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- Spanish (Mexico)
@DaisyVD Thanks 😊. I think it could be better to say : " It happened that sb turned on the light". Am I right? Have a nice day!
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@rijoy5
It's totally normal, but it is much more common amongst the British and Australians. I never heard many Americans use Happen in this way very much.
In Britain and Australia, it is used in place of – by chance, or, for no particular reason.
I happened to open the cupboard and found a mouse in there – I wasn't looking for a mouse, but I found one. It was a chance meeting with a mouse – a chance "happening" - here, happening is understood as a type of noun. A happening occurred – I saw a mouse.
This is a really ancient way of speaking, which still survives to this day when people talk about – I happened to do this, or it so happened that something happened.
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- English (US)
@rijoy5 No problem!
Hm that sentence still feels weird to me. I don't think "happen" is needed in this sentence, but if you want to keep it, another way you could say it is:
What happened is he turned on the light.
That's still a little awkward but I think it's fine :)
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- Spanish (Mexico)
@isthmus_x oh that's the reason why I stick to " happen". My teacher of English was a British woman. 😄 Thanks a lot.
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@rijoy5
That would totally explain it. I'm not surprised that the other answerer, being fully American, finds it strange. I was brought up and educated in various places so it doesn't sound weird to me at all.
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- Spanish (Mexico)
@DaisyVD The context is : " This morning I woke up early because someone happened to turn on the light at 5".
- English (US)
@rijoy5 Thanks, that makes more sense now! I agree with @isthmus_x that it means "by chance, or, for no particular reason."
And yes, as an American, it sounds a little formal to me, and I would associate it with British English.
Usually when I use the word "happen", I use it like this:
What happened yesterday?
Do you know what happened at school last week?
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- Spanish (Mexico)
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