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Ask for help > chance or opportunity?
chance or opportunity?
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aldonza
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chance or opportunity?
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Hi there!
Sometimes there is a kind of overlapping between these two words.
Are they interchangable in the following sentences?
"You�ll have the opportunity/chance to ask questions at the end of the meeting"
"You�should take the opportunity /chance to travel while you�re still young"
Thanks in advance
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31 Jan 2013
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EstherLee76
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It seems to me that "opportunity" is more formal and "chance" is less formal. |
31 Jan 2013
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anitarobi
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Yes, they �re synonymous, but in your examples I �d say this: opportunity to answer questions, meaning you will be given the opportunity (it will be organised for you), whereas chance to travel (because it may happen in all kinds of ways during your lifetime). At least I think so.
If you google chance vs. opportunity you�ll see lots of examples of the two words in different situations. |
31 Jan 2013
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whitebear
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I think we use "chance" to do something, when something will happen, especially something you WANT, but "opportunity" - when it is EASY for you to do something. |
31 Jan 2013
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maceman
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I agree that opportunity would be the choice in both those sentences. I recently Googled this because a student of mine asked me the same question. Here is what I found. In the case of chance, there is an implied element of risk, uncertainty and less control of the outcome. "You have a 1 in 10,000 chance of winning the lottery." "I met my friend by chance at the movies." "There is a chance it might snow tomorrow." With opportunity there is an understanding that it is more definite, that the outcome will benefit you through your planning, control or management of the situation. "If you accept this teaching job, you will have the opportunity to travel." Hope this helps a little. Have a great day! |
31 Jan 2013
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neil660
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I wouldn �t confuse your poor student with unnecessary examples of the differences (although they do exist as maceman found). For now, I�d just advise him/her that the distinction is primarily one of formality, while explaining that there are a few collocations (such as by chance) that should be remembered. Unfortunately, far too many teachers do nothing less then stupefy students with reams of examples (as we�ve seen above with the extremely vague and questionable distinctions of asking vs answering questions).You may also be interested that the majority of words with Greco-Latinate origins are generally more formal than those with their roots in Anglo Saxon (chance-opportunity; virile-manly, etc), but I wouldn�t mention that to you students unless they are particularly interested in language. Hope that helps. |
31 Jan 2013
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yanogator
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I �d say that an opportunity is something that is made available to you, by plan or design, and a chance is something that just happens (or not). I had an opportunity to apply for a supervisory position. I had a chance to win $1,000,000. This is not a hard rule, but a general guideline. As neil660 said, words from the classical languages are generally more formal than the Anglo-Saxon words, as well as longer. Bruce |
31 Jan 2013
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neil660
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But isn �t that still confusing the issue? You can indeed say: I had the chance to apply for... I had the opportunity to win... I still prefer a) Teacher, what �s the difference between "opportunity" and "chance"? b) "Opportunity" is more formal. There are some other differences, but that �s the most important one. If the student wants more, you could introduce a few of the collocations. |
31 Jan 2013
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aldonza
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Thank you all.
It was easier than it looked.
Cheers
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1 Feb 2013
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