verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a crash happens/occurs
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The three-vehicle crash happened on the corner of Ongar Road.
a miracle happens
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Then the miracle happened – there was a job, and I could have it.
a tragedy happens/occurs
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The tragedy happened shortly before 5pm on Saturday.
an accident happens ( also an accident occurs formal )
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No one saw the accident happen.
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Most road accidents occur in urban areas.
an attack happens/takes place ( also an attack occurs formal )
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The attack took place at around 10 pm Thursday.
an earthquake happens ( also an earthquake occurs formal )
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Scientists cannot predict when an earthquake will occur.
an event happens/takes place ( also an event occurs formal )
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The event took place last year.
an explosion takes place/happens
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The largest explosion took place at the main post office.
an incident happens
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The incident happened as Mrs Edwards was walking her dog.
an injury happens/occurs
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The injury occurred five minutes into the game.
bound to happen
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When you are dealing with so many patients, mistakes are bound to happen .
erosion happens/occurs
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The highest rates of erosion occur where soil is exposed to drought.
evolution happens/takes place ( also evolution occurs formal )
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We can see signs of evolution taking place in the world around us.
extraordinary thing to do/say/happen
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What an extraordinary thing to do!
happen/appear/change overnight
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Reputations are not changed overnight.
It...happened so fast
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It all happened so fast I didn’t even notice I was bleeding.
mistakes happen
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We’re very careful, but mistakes can happen.
sth happens when you least expect it
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Bad luck tends to happen when you least expect it.
sth is a disaster waiting to happen (= used to say that something is bad and will fail )
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The government’s educational reforms are a disaster waiting to happen.
the unthinkable happened
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Then the unthinkable happened and the boat started to sink.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
actually
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This, surely, was what had actually happened to Adam Verne-Smith.
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Perhaps some of these notions come close to what actually happened .
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They couldn't believe it was all real - that the nightmare was actually happening to them.
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What actually happened was that I was as drunk as anybody in the barracks the night all hell broke loose.
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Gregory's account of what actually happened is laconic in the extreme.
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Like most mythic events, the Six-Day War actually happened , but not quite the way people remember it.
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She still couldn't quite believe that all this was actually happening to her.
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Nevertheless, the theory works well if, using hindsight, one looks back at what has actually happened .
again
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He was determined never to let that mistake happen again .
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This happened again , and yet a third time.
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However, I really will be able to say to the magistrates that it won't happen again .
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He has got to assure Congress that it will never happen again .
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Once you have cured the water pollution problem, you will have to take steps to avoid it happening again .
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She had gone through it once on Sorrows and was terrified of its happening again .
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And then it happened again , and Kate had another twenty-four hours of the shakes.
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To prevent such a thing from happening again , Dole and the others want to amend the U. S. Constitution.
ever
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Thankfully, nothing like this has ever happened since.
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Has it ever happened to you?
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But Dot had thought it wouldn't ever happen to their baby.
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If anything ever happened to her, she was all set.
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She wrote poetry with impenetrable syntax about a life where nothing ever happened .
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What was the best thing that ever happened to you?
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Nothing like this had ever happened while Cedric still lived with Dorothy!
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Nothing like that had ever happened before.
here
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Such things did not, could not happen here .
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But there was no fluke, and no mistake, about what happened here Sunday.
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What the hell was happening here ?
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A curious thing has happened here .
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After what happened here on April 15, 1989, the authorities were going to make sure there was no repetition.
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And the same thing could happen here .
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One would like to think that it's not going to happen here .
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You must come to Berlin, something better will happen here , they promised vaguely.
just
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Then maybe it had just happened .
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It just happens to work out like that.
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Matthew Spender's writing is at its best remembering the past as though it has just happened .
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It just happened that Bobby filled the bill in this case.
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And they just happen to be attached to a saint!
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It just happens that mutations that construct organisms which reproduce more efficiently are conserved over time.
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It had all seemed part of the wonder: that it should have happened just this Jubilee summer.
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Perhaps some of her corrections are subjective-she just happens to like one style better than another.
never
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That had never happened to her in her whole life before.
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But stories got told about things that never happened .
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I think we were near deluding ourselves that Harry had never happened , that we'd done it all ourselves.
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But after I got caught up in things at graduate school, that just never happened .
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Experience has shown that this virtually never happens .
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That scary scene in Gibson City was so far in the past, it sometimes felt as if it had never happened .
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It's something that should never happen .
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It had never happened , never would happen.
often
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As so often happens , the conversation becomes increasingly serious and philosophical.
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When a kid sprains her hand or jams her finger, which happens often , she tries to shake it out.
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It was not exactly what we were after but that is the way things often happen in our job.
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But then, as so often happens in science, more research complicated the picture.
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As often happens in summer, a climatic miracle occurred.
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That often happens from excessive use of the same chemicals.
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There had been a pair using this barn, but, as so often happens these days, they deserted their nest.
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She knew the worst often happened , worse than the worst you can imagine, and so you made provisions.
really
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To this day, I don't know what really happened to Kay Amin's body.
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The other 90 games would be played against teams from other divisions and the other league, assuming interleague play really happens .
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Has the revolution of 1989 been lost already, or did it never really happen at all?
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I feel kind of foolish admitting it, but it really happened in a dream.
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Frasier's attempts to piece together what really happened form the backbone of the novel.
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At least this is a step toward the truth, what really happened .
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Now Orlando's city chiefs are terrified that the lid is coming off what really happens in the city.
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There is much on what is really happening at universities.
when
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She couldn't imagine how she had allowed it to happen when everything within her head warned against it.
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What happens when a young husband and father is suddenly unable to work because of cancer?
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The best Monday shows happen when Shaun and Bez interact, and you get a real sense of their personalities.
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Readers who doubt this scenario might consider what happened when the savings and loans were deregulated during the eighties.
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It's clear that Fitzgerald enjoys an absolute authority, but prefers to see what happens when she reins it in.
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What happens when dreams die and depression sets in?
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Just what happens when you're on holiday!
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What happens when she arrives in the new environment?
■ NOUN
accident
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The reason she is able to deal with this is because she was a wonderful person before this accident ever happened .
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The accident happened because of a culture in which working practices were not checked, Whitehaven magistrates heard.
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Residents living south of the proposed annexation told the Weekly that car accidents on Wilmot happen all the time.
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Therefore, both over-confidence and under-confidence may play a part in creating an environment in which accidents happen more readily.
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The accident happened on Interstate 84 in Manchester, about 10 miles east of Hartford, during evening rush hour.
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We all know that accidents can happen to anyone, at any time.
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A student helicopter pilot wallowing around in a hover in a tight clearing is an accident waiting to happen .
event
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This is the sort of event which happens once every 50 years on average.
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In a phenomenologically complex universe, extremely improbable events are certain to happen .
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Pro-active public relations is when you are helping to make a situation or event happen and are keeping ahead of things.
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We might say that a probable event is one that happens in many or most possible worlds.
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What mattered here was how contemporaries chose to describe the events that happened in 1688-9.
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An improbable event is one that happens only in one or a few possible worlds.
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When the pressure is on to respond to an event after it happens , the client will then judge your professional competence.
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Carlson has infused the descriptions of the festivals with the charm of the region and the volunteers who make the event happen .
thing
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But by then John Butcher, the man with the power to make such things happen , had left for another appointment.
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But these things happen at Catalina.
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He'd never do nothing himself but, you know, things might happen .
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But that such things happened , and happened often, are part of the historic record.
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What is the worst possible thing that could happen ?
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A number of things happened in the late 1990s, though, that seemed to create a new context.
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But in between all these things something happens which is only spoken of in hushed whispers.
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Yeah, George, same thing happened to the presidency under Richard Nixon.
things
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But if neither of these things happen , Labour will be forced to decide whether it is prepared to raise taxes.
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When you have the courage to make a Big Promise and the will to deliver on it, good things usually happen .
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I wasn't there long before things started to happen .
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We participate in making things happen .
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And the craziest things can happen at the last minute.
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Many things were happening at once, with dizzying speed.
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Struggling to his feet, he realised he was waving his sword. Things were happening too fast to keep up with.
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Instinctively we knew that terrible things were going to happen in our elderly aunts peaceful living room.
■ VERB
go
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Lee turned to face Philip and Philip knew immediately what was going to happen .
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No matter how much he tried to put it off, he already knew that it was going to happen this week.
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If you could see what is going to happen in the future, you could change it.
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That is not going to happen .
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Madeleine said: what's going to happen with the shrine in the woods?
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But change is going to happen .
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The point is, what is going to happen to these boys later.
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Months went by and nothing happened .
know
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Who knew what would happen between then and the morning?
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When the bomb was detonated down at Alamogordo, residents for hundreds of miles around knew something extraordinary had happened .
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He knew what was happening in the boathouse and it was too ordinary to convert into anything exciting.
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It was so smooth you hardly knew it-was happening .
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To this day, I don't know what really happened to Kay Amin's body.
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Magically everyone knew just what had happened .
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He wanted to know what had happened .
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We must know what is happening in New York.
let
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She dared not let it happen again.
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Waldon has vowed not to let a letdown happen .
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He was determined never to let that mistake happen again.
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To be deprived of his place on the mission was one thing that he was not prepared to let happen .
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But Cathy Freeman will not let that happen .
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Only baseball could have let this happen .
see
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She saw at once what was happening to her and to Rose, and where it could lead them both.
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They were also waiting to see what would happen .
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He decided to wait and see what happened in the other rehearsals.
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But no witness saw what happened .
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A few nights later, I took three or four at once, to see what happened .
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Quinn went on to the next day and decided to see what would happen .
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I saw it happen , and I couldn't do a thing to help them.
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We see this happening in networked markets.
tell
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And now I suppose I don't even have to tell you what happened ?
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She called Kim, the trainer, on the phone and, in between uncontrollable sobs, told her what was happening .
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Some one has to tell him what's happening here.
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Even during the evacuation - more than 180,000 people were moved - most of them were not told what had happened .
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Ask the students who are watching to tell what happened .
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Every day the newspapers are telling you what happens to other people's children.
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I told him what had happened in Bloomsbury.
wait
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That suddenly went to being able to play conservatively and just wait and see what happened .
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NEAs are accidents waiting to happen .
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Mr. Haynes I shall wait to see what happens about the speed of motorway repairs.
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I hop into my truck, turn the key and wait as absolutely nothing happens .
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Let's wait and see what happens , Kit.
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Stagnant, they waited for something to happen .
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He would wait , he would wait to see what happened to Kurz.
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Then I snuggled in and waited for something to happen .
wonder
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They will be wondering what has happened to you.
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I often wonder what would have happened if I had not struggled so in the web.
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I wondered what had happened to them all.
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I sometimes nudge Miles and Evan to join me in wondering what 47 will happen next in a story.
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But a man could go nuts sitting around wondering about what might happen .
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I wonder what happened to the paper hymen on the toilet. l check my hair in the mirror.
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Athelstan stood there dreaming, wondering what was happening in St Erconwald's.
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Now lesson seven was crumpled and he would wonder how it happened .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
accidents (will) happen
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And if accidents happen, they happen.
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But some accidents happen because of their egocentric tendency to think of themselves as invulnerable.
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But worse is the fact that the same accidents happen time and time again.
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Everyone knows that hideous accidents happen, however precise modern weapons are supposed to be.
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Local fishermen say that, when accidents happen, the trawlers never stop.
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Therefore, both over-confidence and under-confidence may play a part in creating an environment in which accidents happen more readily.
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Where he went, accidents happened.
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Which is exactly how accidents happen.
an accident waiting to happen
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A student helicopter pilot wallowing around in a hover in a tight clearing is an accident waiting to happen.
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Another way of putting it would be that the dollar is an accident waiting to happen.
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Mr Stewart said that there was an accident waiting to happen and he feared lives would be lost.
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People living near the site say it was an accident waiting to happen.
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Unless, of course, it was an accident waiting to happen.
shit happens
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Yeah, well, shit happens.
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The only thing we know for sure is that shit happens.
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What we have here is proof of the axiom that shit happens.
sth was meant to be/happen
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Designed by Robert Von Hagge, it was meant to be hard.
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Imprinted with cell bars, the first Tricky Envelope was meant to be festooned with the Richard Nixon stamp.
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It was meant to be some kind of joke.
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Our protest was meant to be purely symbolic.
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Perhaps it's because none of this was meant to happen.
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She was meant to be illustrating a new book for children, a fantasy story by a well-known author.
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Technically he was meant to be in bed.
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The fit crew was meant to be Merrill Lynch.
there is no question of sth happening/sb doing sth
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Each has much to offer to the other and there is no question of one tradition being right and the other wrong.
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Even if the practice overspends its funds, there is no question of patients not getting the treatment they need.
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Since there is no means of changing the weather, there is no question of protest.
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This again suggests that the boys may have been in the wrong, which there is no question of in Ballantyne.
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This particularly applies where there is no question of a divorced previous spouse.
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This phenomenon is distinct from onomatopoeia - it is sometimes called sound symbolism: there is no question of auditory resemblance.
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Yet there is no question of one's hair rising.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Before I realised what was happening, the man had grabbed my bag and run off with it.
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For some time there had been predictions of a major earthquake, and then on April 19, 1906, it happened.
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I want to make things up with her, but I don't think it's going to happen .
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Look, when I turn the key, nothing happens.
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The accident happened at two o'clock this afternoon.
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The accident happened early on Tuesday morning.
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The strangest thing happened when I was in Singapore.
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We'd always feared that this might happen .
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What's happened? Why are you crying?
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You mustn't go there alone at night. Anything might happen !
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
At ninety-one it was bound to have happened before.
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But what will happen when the holders of all those assets outnumber the buyers?
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He telephoned you just after you'd gone and I told him what had happened.
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I couldn't understand what was happening to me and I began to sink deeper and deeper into the pit.
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Instead of standing idly by or opposing change, the union should become actively involved in making change happen .
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Look at what happened at Seattle, and the proposals of groups like Attac and Agir Ici.
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Whatever had happened, the experience had disturbed him.