verb · neutral
happen
/ˈhæpən/HAP·pen
Band 6-7speakingtask2task1
to take place; to occur
Examples
“What happened at the meeting yesterday?”
“Accidents happen when drivers are careless.”
“How did the problem happen?”
Band 8 sentence
“If anything unusual happens during the study, the research team must report it immediately.”
Collocations
- happen to someone
- whatever happens
- it just happens
Word family
happen verbhappens verb (3rd sg)happened verb (past)happening noun / verb (gerund)
Common mistakes
It happen a lot of crime here.→There are a lot of crimes here.
What did occur to your plan?→What happened to your plan?
Say it for a higher band
5be→6take place→7+happen
Synonyms
occur
take place
Easily confused
occur
“An error occurred during the experiment.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In -en
Learn it with its set