chance

«chance» in Mova's school dictionary: a time when you can do something; an opportunity — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a chance, chances); verb (chance, chances, chanced, chancing — chance it); adjective (chance — a chance meeting)

meaning for a pupil

1) A chance is a time when you can do something; an opportunity. tree →

2) Chance is how likely something is to happen; the possibility. tree →

3) Chance is luck: things happening without anyone planning them. tree →

4) To chance it (informal) is to try something risky and hope it works. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, chance and probability describe how likely an event is, on a scale from impossible (0) through unlikely, even chance (1/2, «fifty-fifty») and likely to certain (1); tossing a coin has an even chance of heads; rolling a 6 on a die has a 1 in 6 chance. In safety, «don't take chances» means don't take risks. In everyday life, «give someone a second chance» is forgiving them. Phrases: «by chance», «take a chance», «a fair chance», «no chance», «even chance», «chances are», «second chance», «have a chance to».

examples

• I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. tree →
• There's a good chance of rain tomorrow. tree →
• We met by chance at the shops. tree →
• What's the chance of rolling a six? It's 1 in 6. tree →
• Tossing a coin gives an even chance of heads or tails. tree →
• Give him a second chance; he said sorry. tree →
• Don't take chances when crossing the road. tree →
• No chance! I'm not jumping in that cold lake. tree →
• And at length chance helped him. tree →

note

Countable for opportunities («two chances»); uncountable for luck («by chance»). In maths, «chance of 1 in 4» = 1/4 = 25%. «Even chance» = 1/2. «Chances are» means «it is likely that». Do not confuse with «change».

In the corpora

• Asking kindly, "Does it hurt?" gives an older person a chance to be honest.
• An animal cannot choose to evolve; changes happen by chance in DNA, and the place decides which ones last.
• A small pond without fish, with gently sloping edges, gives them their best chance.
• By chance the Stranger-man finds Teshumai at her Cave, having lunch with other Stone Age ladies.
• "The luck of the draw" means it was chance, not your fault.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «chance» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.