SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE DEFINITIONS AND USAGE OF THE WORDS ‘CHANCE’, ‘OPPORTUNITY’ AND ‘POSSIBILITY’

http www Le Huong Thao K18C Le Huong Thao K18C VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE DEFINITIONS AND USAGE OF THE WORDS ‘CHANCE’, ‘OPPORTUNITY’ AND ‘POSSIBILITY’ SEMANTICS COURSE (Final assignment) Student Le Huong Thao Group K18C Supervisor Dr Ha Cam Tam Date of submission 2862010 Hanoi, 2010 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1 Rationale It is widely accepted that learning synonyms is among th.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST- GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE DEFINITIONS AND USAGE OF THE WORDS

‘CHANCE’, ‘OPPORTUNITY’ AND ‘POSSIBILITY’

SEMANTICS COURSE (Final assignment)

Student: Le Huong Thao

Group: K18C

Supervisor: Dr Ha Cam Tam

Date of submission: 28/6/2010

Hanoi, 2010

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

It is widely accepted that learning synonyms is among the most effective ways to enrich one’s vocabulary of a second or foreign language However, one big problem with this strategy is that many synonyms are too confusing for language learners, i.e they cannot tell one word from its synonym in terms of

usage The group of chance, opportunity and possibility is such a case Even native

speakers sometimes find it hard to explain the differences in the uses of these three words, let alone non-native ones

As a non-native teacher of English, the researcher herself has difficulty distinguishing the meanings of these synonyms She guesses several other teachers would have the same problem, though they may not realize it Then it could be inferred that this problem can be more puzzling for foreign language learners, especially those of lower levels of proficiency

For the reasons above, the researcher determines to conduct a semantic

study on the similarities and differences in the meanings of chance, opportunity and possibility, with a view to facilitating the understanding and using of these

synonyms

1.2 Aims of the study

The study focuses on the examination of the three words chance,

opportunity and possibility to find out the similarities and differences in their

meanings, and whether they are interchangeable After that, some implications for teaching and learning English are provided

1.3 Method of the study

This study examines the use of chance, opportunity and possibility in two

dictionaries: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD) and Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (CALD) The results obtained are used to determine whether these words have different connotations and are

CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Synonymy and synonyms

Synonymy in semantics is an inter-lexical sense relation Synonymy is sameness of meaning (Palmer F R 1996:88, Lyons John 1996:60, cited in Yemisi, 2006)

Fromkin et al (2003, pp.181) state that: “there are words that sound

different but have the same or nearly the same meaning Such words are called synonyms” It is also added in this section that “no two words ever have exactly the same meaning” even if they are synonyms This may help explain why in a certain context one word is preferred to another, although they are synonyms

2.2 An article on chance, opportunity and possibility

Actually literature on this topic offers little to review The only article the researcher was able to find is a lesson from an online course called Virtual

Language Course (VLC) It is entitled “Three commonly confused nouns:

opportunity, possibility, chance” and VLC provides explanations and

recommendations for how to use these three words

These nouns can be used similarly, but do not mean quite the same thing The

complementation patterns are also usually different

eg I have the opportunity to go / of going to Beijing next month (= I can go if I want to

do so - opportunity is a choice)

The noun opportunity is often used in these structures:

opportunity + to+ infinitive opportunity + of+ -ing opportunity + for+ noun The noun possibility is usually used in these structures:

possibility + of+ -ing possibility + that+ clause

eg There's a possibility (that) I will go / of my going to Beijing next month (= I may go

- there is no choice involved)

Right : This is a good opportunity to learn more.

Right : This is a good opportunity for making some money.

Right : There is little possibility of house prices rising next year.

Wrong: There is little opportunity of house prices rising next year

The noun chance can be used to have the meaning of either possibility or opportunity,

and can also be used in the complementation structures shown above.

Right: This is a good chance to make some money.

Right: There is little chance of house prices rising next year.

According to the above quoted lesson from VLC, the opportunity to go/of

going contains a choice and the possibility that I will go/ of my going does not.

This means that VLC adds a sense of option to the word opportunity whereas

possibility is given a more neutral sense It can be inferred from the examples

above that sentences like This is a good possibility to learn more and This is a

good possibility for making some money are incorrect ones VLC proposes that opportunity and possibility have similar use and are not interchangeable and do not

have the same connotations As can be seen from this lesson, chance can replace either one of the other nouns, but opportunity cannot be replaced by possibility and

vice versa

2.3 Definitions and usage of chance, opportunity and possibility as provided by

dictionaries

2.3.1 Definitions and usage of chance

CALD explains the meanings of the word chance with synonyms to it in four different contexts: 1 “luck; the force that causes things to happen without any known cause or reason for doing so” In this context, chance is an uncountable noun 2 “likelihood; the level of possibility that something will happen Here

chance is a singular noun 3 “opportunity; an occasion which allows something to

be done; an opportunity” 4 “risk; a possibility that something negative will happen” Chance is a countable noun in 3 and 4

OALD gives four different meanings of the word chance: The first is; “a possibility of something happening, especially sth that you want” The second is; “a suitable time or occasion when you have the opportunity to do sth” The third is; “an unpleasant or dangerous possibility” And the fourth is: “the way that some things happen without any cause that you can see or understand”

CALD also gives several examples of typical collocations: of chance,

by chance, pure/sheer chance, leave nothing to chance, a better chance, chance of,

a good chance that, slim/slight chance, any chance of + ing, not a chance, no chance, stand a chance, have a chance of + ing, chances of, chances are, get/have a chance, give me a chance to + inf., give sb a second chance, I missed my chance and given half a chance

In sum, the dictionaries define chance with synonyms such as: possibility, occasion, luck, risk and opportunity The usage of chance covers a large variety of meanings and variants since chance can be a countable, an uncountable or a singular noun Chance is found in numerous expressions and collocations in the dictionaries

2.3.2 Definitions and usage of opportunity

CALD divides the usage of opportunity into two The first meaning is “an occasion or situation which makes it possible to do something that you want to do or have to do” The second meaning is; “the chance to get a job” Opportunity can be either a countable noun or an uncountable noun, with the second meaning it is always

a countable

OALD defines opportunity as “a time when a particular situation makes it possible to do or achieve sth; a chance”

The entry in CALD also shows some collocations: have an opportunity to, given the opportunity of, opportunity to + infinitive, a unique opportunity to, she missed the opportunity to, and, I don’t get much opportunity

OALD lists the following collocations: equal opportunities, career/

employment/ job opportunities, at the earliest opportunity, a window of opportunity,

I’d like to take this opportunity, and at every opportunity

Thus, opportunity is defined as ‘the chance to get a job, employment or promotion’, ‘a good chance to do something that is possible’ and ‘a period of time when the circumstances are right for doing something’ The usage of opportunity differs depending on the fact that it can be both a countable and an uncountable noun Opportunity is used in several fixed expressions and has certain preferences when it comes to adjacent words

2.3.3 Definitions and usage of possibility

CALD gives two meanings of possibility The first one is “a chance that something may happen or be true” and the other is “something that you can choose

to do in a particular situation” Possibility can be either a countable or an uncountable noun

OALD gives four definitions of possibility: 1.“the fact that sth might exist or happen, but is not certain to”, 2.“one of the different things that you can

do in a particular situation” 3 “something that gives you a chance to achieve sth; opportunity” 4 “Possibilities (plural): if sth has possibilities, it can be improved

or made successful; potential”

CALD suggests that possibility should be used as in the following constructions: “It's not likely to happen but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.” “The forecast said that there's a possibility of snow tonight.” “There's a distinct possibility (that) I'll be asked to give a speech.” “Is there any possibility (that) you could pick me

up from the station?” “We could take on extra staff - that's one possibility.” “‘Have you decided what to do?’ ‘No, I'm still considering the various possibilities.’”

CALD also gives an example of how possibility cannot be used; “Possibility cannot be followed by an infinitive Is there a possibility of finding a cure for cancer? *Is there a possibility to find a cure for AIDS?”

OALD offers some more collocations, including: “beyond the bounds of

possibility”, “distinct possibility” and some examples of verbs;

“consider/explore/investigate a wide range of possibilities” and “to exhaust all the

possibilities”

To sum up, possibility is defined in the dictionaries as ‘a thing that may happen’, ‘a thing that is possible’ and ‘as something you can choose’ It is given synonyms such as opportunity, chance and probability Very few expressions exist with possibility

CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR

TEACHING AND LEARNING

3.1 Conclusion

This study makes use of two reliable dictionaries to define the meanings and usage of opportunity, possibility and chance Both dictionaries list occasion, possibility and chance among the synonyms to opportunity They also provide several expressions and collocations containing opportunity

The dictionaries explain possibility as “something that may happen” or a choice, which contradicts earlier information that a possibility would not involve a choice (as suggested in VLC lesson) Given synonyms to possibility are, for example,: chance, opportunity and occasion Possibility is often used in its plural form and expressions containing possibility are rare

Furthermore, this study has shown that synonyms to chance are, for example, possibility, occasion, luck, risk and opportunity It has also been discussed that chance exists in numerous idioms, expressions, and compounds, which resulted in the conclusion that chance is the most commonly used and the most colloquial choice of opportunity, possibility and chance

In conclusion, the study claims that chance covers more meanings than either opportunity or possibility and can be said to cover a larger semantic domain As already mentioned, perfect synonyms hardly exist Opportunity, possibility and chance are sometimes synonymous, whether they are interchangeable depends on the context and the discourse since some words only collocate with one of the terms Even if an interchange is possible the connotation

of the sentence might change The semantic domains of opportunity, possibility and chance partly intermingle and share a large semantic area Among these,

chance is considered the most colloquial of the terms, the one which is used in most

idioms and informal expressions

Due to the limited scope and materials, the conclusions drawn out in this study should be held valid for the data taken from the two mentioned dictionaries only Thus, it is suggested that further research on the same topic be conducted with a broader scope of data sources, including a larger number of reliable dictionaries The researcher also believes that more interesting results will be produced if a similar study

is carried out based on the native speakers- informants’ responses on their real uses of

chance, opportunity and possibility.

3.2 Implications for teaching and learning

As stated in the first chapter, the use of synonyms in general and of opportunity, possibility and chance in particular sometimes causes a big problem for non-native language users, especially for language learners of limited level of proficiency The distinction between these words is blurred for most of the time Therefore, it is recommended by the researcher that language teachers encourage their students to learn the meanings and usage of these three words from reliable dictionaries, authentic texts and speeches It should be best to memorize the fixed phrases and even some examples listed under these entries in dictionaries, and try

to use them in speaking and writing when possible The researcher believes this suggestion is most useful for learners of elementary and pre-intermediate levels Those of higher levels, however, may study the similarities and differences in the meanings of these words and accordingly make up their own sentences and utterances

The thin boundary between the definitions and usage of these three words also holds some implications for designing and marking English language tests In

objective tests, the answer keys of the tests should anticipate places where the use

of any of these words would be considered correct In writing and speaking tests, the researcher proposes that apart from fixed phrases and expressions, any misuse

of these words in certain contexts should be treated with tolerance

Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2004) Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press Fromkin, B et al (2003) An Introduction to Language 7th.ed Boston: Heinle Thomson

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005) Oxford: Oxford University Press

Virtual Language Centre (2010) ‘Three Commonly Confused Nouns: Opportunity, Possibility, Chance.’ Retrieved June 26, 2010 from

http://edict.com.hk/vlc/grammarcourse/Lesson4_Nouns2/Lesson4.htm#opportunit y/possibility/chance

Yemisi, F (2006) Antonymy, synonymy and hyponymy in semantics An

encyclopedia of the Arts, 4(8), pp 757-762