July 10, 2021

Expressions and idioms with "chance"

12 minutes

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There are many expressions and idioms in English that use the word "chance". In this podcast I'll give you a chance to practice some of them. Let's begin.

1. I'm going to quit my current job and take a chance on that new job I was offered. [ = to try my luck at the new job.]

2. Can you by any chance lend me ten dollars? [ = perhaps]

3. Fat chance of getting a promotion at work. My boss hates me. [ Fat chance is sarcastic and means no chance]

4. He blew his only chance at a promotion when he insulted his boss. [To blow a chance is to lose the opportunity]

5. You don't stand a chance of graduating from the university. You never go to class! [stand a chance = to have a chance]

6. He was looking for rare flowers in California when he chanced upon a nugget of gold. [ = to find]

7. Do you think I'll win the lottery this week?
Did you buy a ticket?
No.
Then you have absolutely no chance of winning. Zero. None. Not a snowball's chance in hell. It's not gonna happen.
[To have no chance of something means the probability of it happening is zero. And the chances of a snowball surviving in hell are also zero.]

8. What are the chances of a large asteroid striking earth? [what are the odds, how likely is it]
Scientists say that on average, an asteroid with a diameter of half a kilometer will strike the earth once every 500,000 years.
So it's not very likely?
Correct. It's extremely unlikely. Don't lose sleep worrying about it.

9. I'll give you one more chance. If you're late for work again tomorrow, you're fired. [I'll give you one more opportunity]

10. He jumped at the chance to act in a movie. "It's the chance of a lifetime!" he said. [opportunity]

And here are a few more idioms using chance:

That was a one in a million chance.

You shouldn't leave something like that to chance.

In a race between two horses, each horse has, in theory, a 50/50 chance of winning.

She has an outside chance of winning the cooking contest.

If you can, take charge of your life. Don't leave everything to chance.