Happen to do sth

Question

Hi what's the meaning of "happen to do sth"? for example, "don’t blame us if our audience happens to draw inferences that are simply not true."or "unlike any of the other scholars who had tried to crack the code, Champollion happened to be fluent in Coptic. "I appreciate if someone helps me with this.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

elec. engDon’t blame us if our audience happens to draw inferences that are simply not true.

... if by chance our audience draws inferences that ...
... if it turns out that our audience (unexpectedly) draws inferences that ...
... if by misfortune our audience (unwantedly) draws inferences that ...

elec. engUnlike any of the other scholars who had tried to crack the code, Champollion happened to be fluent in Coptic.

... by chance Champollion was fluent in Coptic.
... it turned out that Champollion was (unexpectedly) fluent in Coptic.
... by a stroke of luck, it turned out that Champollion was fluent in Coptic.

Definitions from dictionaries:

chance to be or do something, without intention or causation ("I happen to have just what you need!")
happen, occur, or be the case in the course of events or by chance ("It happens that today is my birthday")
chance to do something or come about
‘we just happened to meet Paul’
come about by chance
‘it just so happened that she turned up that afternoon’

In many cases the use of 'happen to' or 'happen that' gives the impression that the speaker is saying, "but that's so unlikely, who would have guessed that that could have happened?"

Don’t blame us if our audience draws inferences that are simply not true — but that's unlikely, so who would guess that that would happen?

Unlike any of the other scholars who had tried to crack the code, Champollion was fluent in Coptic — and that was so unlikely that nobody would have guessed it could have happened like that.

CJ

Happen to do sth

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