happen
part of speech
verb (happen, happens, happened, happening)
meaning for a pupil
1) To happen is to take place, to come about: What happened? tree →
2) To happen to someone is to be the thing they go through: Something funny happened to me. tree →
3) To happen to do something is to do it by chance: I happened to see her. tree →
sense in the lessons
what is being done to the things or groups («Think: what happens to the groups?»); a study question: picture the change before choosing the operation; in science «what happens if we heat ice?» (predict); in stories events that happen in order
examples
- Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us the things that shall happen; the former things, what are they? (Prophets ISA.41.22, JPS 1917) tree →
- And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying: 'As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.' (Prophets 1SA.28.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- And the young man that told him said: 'As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and the horsemen pressed hard upon him. (Prophets 2SA.1.6, JPS 1917) tree →
- Not quite. Think: what happens to the groups? Here we multiply. tree →
- What happens to the apples when Tom eats 2? tree →
- What happened at school today? tree →
- Accidents can happen, so be careful. tree →
- What happens if we put the ice in the sun? tree →
- I happened to see your mum at the shop. tree →
- Something strange happened in the night. tree →
- And then a strange thing happened. tree →
note
A study question: picture what happens to the things before choosing. «happen» has no object: say «What happened?», not «What was happened?». Noun «happening» (an event).
In the corpora
- Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us the things that shall happen; the former things, what are they?
- And I also perceived that one event happeneth to them all.
- Morning sickness is feeling or being sick in early pregnancy, and despite the name it can happen at any time of day.
- A miscarriage is when a baby stops growing and dies early in pregnancy; it happens quite often and is nobody's fault.
- Different families believe different things about what happens after death, and nobody knows for certain.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «happen» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.