This is the sentence I came across in an exam:
"Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the _______ to do it."
A possibility B chance C occasion D opportunity
Key: chance
Could opportunity be right? Both B and D sound right to me. Some people said that it is because you have the verb "get" the reason why D is not possible.
Dear David,
When I am faced with a �Cloze Exercise�, or a �Gap-Fill Exercise�, I usually �close the gap� in the sentence, using every word given in the exercise which it is possible to use. (If I have lots of free time, I write the sentences on paper: if I have little free time I �say� the sentences to myself, inside my head.)
Here, we are given 4 possible words, so we can make 4 possible sentences.
A. "Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the POSSIBILITY to do it." �
B. "Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the CHANCE to do it." �
C. "Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the OCCASION to do it." �
D. "Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the OPPORTUNITY to do it." �
This is the first time that I have used the 4 words in the context of the Gap-Fill Sentence. As you can see by the 2 ticks and the 2 crosses, my initial reaction is that sentences �B� and �D� both �feel appropriate� but that sentences �A� and �C� both �feel inappropriate�.
This initial reaction is often surprisingly accurate, especially when the individual has a wide vocabulary. It is probable that the individual recalls, from the past, a similar sentence possessing a similar structure and similar collocations!
(The word, �Intertextuality�, coined by Julia Kristeva, refers to how one text is influenced by another).
There is another technique which is similar and which sometimes gives you the correct answer!
Read the sentence, inside your head! When you come to the gap in the sentence, say the word: �blank�, inside your head! For example:
"Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the blank to do it."
When you speak like this, sometimes the correct word jumps into your head subconsciously and completes the sentence perfectly. This probably happens because you can recall sentence-structures and collocations from the past, and your brain can automatically supply the appropriate word.
It doesn�t always work, but it�s worth trying.
Let us examine the words, using dictionary definitions.
Oxford Dictionary of English, 2006.
POSSIBLITY: (noun) a thing that may happen or be the case: �relegation remains a distinct possibility�. [mass noun] the state or fact of being possible; likelihood: there is no possibility of any government achieving this level of expenditure�. a thing that may be chosen or done out of several possible alternatives: �one possibility is to allow all firms to participate�.
The Chambers Dictionary, 2003.
POSSIBILITY: (noun) something or someone that is potentially selectable.
From late Latin, possibilitas = �able to be done�.
ODOE.
CHANCE: (noun) a possibility of something happening: �there is a chance of winning the raffle�: an opportunity to do or achieve something: �I gave her a chance to answer�.
Originally Middle English, from Old French, cheoir = �fall, befall�.
TCD.
CHANCE: (noun) that which happens or results fortuitously, or without assignable cause; fortune; an unexpected event; risk; opportunity; possibility of something happening; probability.
Old French, from Latin cadere = �to fall�.
ODOE.
OCCASION: (noun) a particular event, or the time at which it takes place: �on one occasion I stayed up till two in the morning�. a special or noteworthy event, ceremony, or celebration: �she was presented with a gold watch to mark the occasion�. a suitable or opportune time for doing something: �by-elections are traditionally an occasion for registering protest votes�.
TCD.
OCCASION: (noun) a case, instance or time of something happening; a suitable time, moment or opportunity; a special time or season; a chance of bringing about something desired; an opportunity; an event which, although not the cause, determines the time at which another happens; a reason, pretext or excuse; requirement; need.
ODOE.
OPPORTUNITY: (noun) a time or set of circumstances that make it possible to do something: �the night drive gave us the opportunity of spotting rhinos�.
TCD.
OPPORTUNITY: (noun) an occasion offering a possibility; advantageous conditions: (especially in the plural) a chance, opening or prospect.
ODOE.
Get: [With Object] come to have (something): receive.
TCD.
Get: to obtain; to acquire; to procure; to receive; to attain; to come to have.
The first thing that we note is that our 4 words are all nouns, so we cannot eliminate a word because it is a verb, adjective, etc.
Moreover, the 4 words supplied are all singular, so we cannot use verb agreement to differentiate one from another. In any case, the following verb is the �to infinitive� form, so there is no final inflection to help us.
The determiner is the definite article, �the�. We are not shown the indefinite article, �a� or �an�, which would have given us a clue to the appropriate following word: �a possibility�, �a chance�, �an occasion�, or �an opportunity�.
Let us examine the 4 words individually.
A. POSSIBILITY. A person cannot �get� (�come to have�, �receive�) a possibility.
A possibility is �able to be done�. These young people are not able to sail around the world.
A possibility �may be chosen� or �is potentially selectable�. But these young people cannot choose or select to sail around the world, or they would have already done so.
�If you study hard, there may be the possibility that you can go to College�.
�Now that you have a full-time job, you have the possibility of opening a Bank Account�.
�This promotion gives you the possibility of applying for the position of Manager�.
B. CHANCE. A person can �get� (�come to have�, �receive�) a chance.
A chance is something which happens fortuitously, unexpectedly, without apparent reason.
Where there is a chance, the individual has no influence on the situation.
�An anonymous donor has paid my fees, so now I have got a chance to go to University!�
�If my Lottery Ticket is selected, I get the chance to win a million pounds sterling�.
�I have just been told that my name has been picked out of the hat, so I get the chance to sail around the world�.
C. OCCASION. A person cannot �get� (�come to have�, �receive�) an occasion.
An occasion is an event or time of celebration, which we enjoy, or celebrate.
�Tomorrow is the occasion of my birthday�.
�We must celebrate the occasion of your marriage with a party�.
�Today is an important occasion in the life of our country�.
D. OPPORTUNITY. A person can �get� (�come to have�, �receive�) an opportunity.
An opportunity is an event or time where the conditions are suitable for the individual to do something.
An opportunity is an advantageous condition.
�I received 3 �A�s in the examination, so now I get the opportunity to go to University�.
�I have been given a bicycle, so tomorrow I will get the opportunity to go cycling�.
�I have saved sufficient holiday-money, so now I get the opportunity to sail around the world�.
Because we cannot use �get� in �A� and �C�, I exclude these 2 and examine �B� and �D� in more detail.
"Many young people dream about sailing on oceans around the world, but few actually get the chance/opportunity to do it."
Chance implies luck or accident. Opportunity implies favourable circumstances, or correct timing.
If the young people get a chance to go on the voyage, it will probably come as a surprise to them and it will be unplanned. However, if the young people get an opportunity to go on the voyage, it will show that they have prepared for it and that it is planned.
The young people �dream� about sailing around the world, but they have not turned their dream into reality by making plans and saving money.
In these circumstances, it is very unlikely that there ever will be a �suitable time� or appropriate occasion when there are �advantageous conditions� during which they get an opportunity to sail?
This suggests that they believe that the dream will never become reality, and that the voyage will never take place.
As a consequence, their only possibility of sailing on the voyage is if, �fortuitously�, an �unexpected event� occurs and they get the chance to travel.
For the above reasons, it is my opinion that B. �CHANCE�, is the most appropriate word.
Les
