Dear experts,
Would you say that HAPPEN TO and HAPPEN WITH are freely interchangeable in their respective contexts.
Thank you,
Yuri
Original Post
"Happen to" or "happen with"
No.
Let's take two questions: "What happened to you?" and "What happened with you?"
"What happened TO you" means what affected you, what event had impact on you.
A: You're really late. And you're limping. What happened to you?
B: I fell on my way here and sprained my ankle. But, I wouldn't let that stop me from meeting you. I came anyway, late or not.
"What happened WITH you" means what's going on with you, what's up with you.
A: You were really ugly at the meeting today. What happened with you?
B: Ugly? I guess I'm just tired of having all the work dropped on me. One of these days, I'm just going to quit.
Another meaning of "what happened/ is happening/ has happened with" is "what's the story?"
A: What happened with Marlene? Is she going to help you or not?
B: I don't know. She never returned my phone calls.
A: What's happening with the weather these days? It's hot one day and cold the next.
B: I heard it's because of El Nino.
Sometime both "happen to" and "happen with" are possible:
A: What happened to/with our teacher? She left early today, and in such a hurry.
B: I don't know. She must have gotten some urgent message.
A: What's happened to/ with you? Don't you love me any more?
B: I don't know. I'm confused.
Rachel
Let's take two questions: "What happened to you?" and "What happened with you?"
"What happened TO you" means what affected you, what event had impact on you.
A: You're really late. And you're limping. What happened to you?
B: I fell on my way here and sprained my ankle. But, I wouldn't let that stop me from meeting you. I came anyway, late or not.
"What happened WITH you" means what's going on with you, what's up with you.
A: You were really ugly at the meeting today. What happened with you?
B: Ugly? I guess I'm just tired of having all the work dropped on me. One of these days, I'm just going to quit.
Another meaning of "what happened/ is happening/ has happened with" is "what's the story?"
A: What happened with Marlene? Is she going to help you or not?
B: I don't know. She never returned my phone calls.
A: What's happening with the weather these days? It's hot one day and cold the next.
B: I heard it's because of El Nino.
Sometime both "happen to" and "happen with" are possible:
A: What happened to/with our teacher? She left early today, and in such a hurry.
B: I don't know. She must have gotten some urgent message.
A: What's happened to/ with you? Don't you love me any more?
B: I don't know. I'm confused.
Rachel
Grammar Exchange wrote:
A: You've were really ugly at the meeting today. What happened with you?
B: Ugly? I guess I'm just tired of having all the work dropped on me. One of these days, I'm just going to quit.
I guess it was just a typo error. If not, the construction above is quite interesting, could you please explain more about it?
A: You've were really ugly at the meeting today. What happened with you?
B: Ugly? I guess I'm just tired of having all the work dropped on me. One of these days, I'm just going to quit.
I guess it was just a typo error. If not, the construction above is quite interesting, could you please explain more about it?
Typo!
It is now fixed.
Nice to know we have such sharp readers!
Rachel
It is now fixed.
Nice to know we have such sharp readers!
Rachel