Can I say: "If I have chance go there, I'll pay her a visit"?

[Nessie]

Hi,
Can we say: “If I have chance go there, I’ll pay her a visit”?
Or is it compulsory to use “have a chance” because “chance” is a countable noun?

Many thanks
Nessie.

[Molly]

For me, all three are OK:

if I have/get the chance to…
if I have/get a chance to…
if I have/get chance to…

[Yankee]

Hi Nessie

Your sentence does not sound natural to me. I’d add an article and also the word ‘to’.
.

[Molly]

@Yankee

Hi Nessie

Your sentence does not sound natural to me. I’d add an article and also the word ‘to’.
.

Do these sound unnatural to you, Amy?

-“As the parachute failed on re-entry, a man hanging out of a helicopter wielding a big hook didn’t have chance to grab the falling object. …”

-“Funny enough, the move happened so fast that I didn’t have chance to talk to Kieran about coming here.”

-“James Ray didn’t get chance to explain why it took him nine years to manifest his appearance on Oprah”

[MrPedantic]

@nessie

Hi,
Can we say: “If I have chance go there, I’ll pay her a visit”?
Or is it compulsory to use “have a chance” because “chance” is a countable noun?

Many thanks
Nessie.

I would agree with Amy: add article + “to”.

Best wishes,

MrP

[Molly]

Why the article? Isn’t “if you get/have chance, …” common in spoken BrEng?

[Yankee]

@Molly

Do these sound unnatural to you, Amy?

Those have included the word ‘to’, so part of the problem is gone. However, my reaction to get/have chance as used in your sentences is simply “typo” (i.e. there was an unintentional omission of an article).
.

[Yankee]

I found the article that you blindly took one of your sentences from. In that very same article there are:

• 6 usages of “get/got the chance”
• 1 usage of “got a chance”
• 1 usage of “hope for a chance”
• 1 usage of “gave him his chance”
• 1 usage of “had my chance”
  [color=red]- typographical error: “have chance”
• typographical error: “get everything dome”

I don’t know whether there are more typos in that article or not. I really don’t feel like doing any more of the research you apparently can’t be bothered to do.
.

[Molly]

I don’t know whether there are more typos in that article or not. I really don’t feel like doing any more of the research you apparently can’t be bothered to do

.

Strange reply. Are you saying that “gotten/got/have chance to…” are not acceptable in AmEng in both (the) written and spoken forms?

However, my reaction to get/have chance as used in your sentences is simply “typo” (i.e. there was an unintentional omission of an article).

But we’re not talking about the written for, are we? We are talking about the written-spoken form and the spoken form. The thread example is:

Can we say: “If I have chance go there, I’ll pay her a visit”?

I imagine the thread starter is asking about a piece of spoken language, don’t you? So typos are out of the picture. It seems you’ve not commonly heard “gotten/get/have chance to…” in spoken AmEng. I’ve heard it many times in BrEng, and from speakers from all walks of life.

[Nessie]

Thanks a lot, everybody

First of all, sorry for my typo of missing of word “to” (It’s completely a typo, so let’s say no more about it :))

As for “had/get chance to do sth”, through your ideas, I’ve got the point now. It’s not correct in formal written English, but can be used in informal spoken English?

Now I just have one more question: Which of these two is more commonly used:

• If I had the chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a vist.
• If I had a chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a visit.

Many thanks
Nessie

[Molly]

It’s not correct in formal written English, but can be used in informal spoken English?

Or even in semi-formal English.

BNC:

had a chance to - 260 per million words
had the chance to - 119 per million words

American Corpus:

had a chance to - 2066 per million words
had the chance to - 370 per million words

Maybe give you an idea.

[Yankee]

@nessie

As for “had/get chance to do sth”, through your ideas, I’ve got the point now. It’s not correct in formal written English, but can be used in informal spoken English? [color=blue]It’s not anything I hear used in AmE. So, I don’t find it “acceptable” in informal AmE either. As for BE, I’d recommend you follow MrP’s advice.

Now I just have one more question: Which of these two is more commonly used:

• If I had the chance to travel to London, I’[color=red]ll pay her a vist.
• If I had a chance to travel to London, I’[color=red]ll pay her a visit.
  [color=blue]Neither. In combination with ‘had’ in the IF clause, the use of ‘will’ in the other half of your sentence is neither standard nor does it sound like an “informal” non-standard usage to me.

[Molly]

Neither. In combination with ‘had’ in the IF clause, the use of ‘will’ in the other half of your sentence is neither standard nor does it sound like and “informal” non-standard usage to me.

I think you may find that the question was about “had A chance to” versus “had THE chance to”.

[Molly]

It’s not anything I hear used in AmE. So, I don’t find it “acceptable” in informal AmE either. As for BE, I’d recommend you follow MrP’s advice.

And follow my advice if you want to know something about spoken grammar.

[Yankee]

@Molly

I think you may find that the question was about “had A chance to” versus “had THE chance to”.

You may be right, Molly, old boy. Assuming you are, why didn’t you answer the question? Was your next post supposed to answer that question?

@Molly

And follow my advice if you want to know something about spoken grammar.

.
.
Hi Nessie
I think “Molly” believes he can answer your question better than I can. So let’s wait for his explanation of the difference between “had a chance” and “had the chance”.
If I see things differently, I’ll let you know.
.

[Nessie]

Thanks a lot (both Amy and Molly :P)

As for “have/get chance to”, I think I know what to do now, Amy

Hic, I am terribly sorry for my typos. (Just don’t know what’s wrong with me these days => making stupid mistakes all the time (+_+)
Of course, I mean these two sentences:

• If I have the chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a vist.
• If I have a chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a visit.

Thank you both very much once again.
Nessie

[MrPedantic]

Just to confirm what Amy said: the version without the article —

1. ???If I have chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a visit.

— would be incorrect in written or spoken standard BrE.

Best wishes,

MrP

[Molly]

would be incorrect in written or spoken standard BrE.

Really? Can you show us a standard English rule or rule book dealing with spoken English and which insists on the article?

In fact, do tell us what standard spoken British English is, will you?

[MrPedantic]

@Molly

Really? Can you show us a standard English rule or rule book dealing with spoken English and which insists on the article?

Why would I need to consult a “rule book”?

If I were to ask Nessie about a particular phrase in her own first language, and Nessie were to say, “No, that isn’t correct”, or “No, that doesn’t sound right”, I would know perfectly well what Nessie meant. It would be absurd to say “show me the rule-book that says you’re right”.

In this instance,

1. ???If I have chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a visit.
2. If I have the chance to travel to London, I’ll pay her a visit.

version #1 would immediately suggest a non-native speaker, to a native speaker of BrE; while version #2 wouldn’t.

It would therefore be quite misleading to tell Nessie that #1 is somehow “correct”, or even a likely variant, among native speakers.

MrP

[Molly]

If I were to ask Nessie about a particular phrase in her own first language, and Nessie were to say, “No, that isn’t correct”, or “No, that doesn’t sound right”, I would know perfectly well what Nessie meant. It would be absurd to say “show me the rule-book that says you’re right”.

Interesting, as most of the rule books world over do indeed describe the standard form of each language and a heel of a lot of people, including many native speakers do feel the need to consult such “guides” at some time. In effect, what you are saying is that you, personally, do not need to consult such, right?

And, many native speakers here have been wrong in their judgements upon English usage. Should we not, in such cases, be justified in calling for assistance on standard English rule/grammarbooks? The more sources, the merrier, IMO.

So, to my second question:

Do tell us what standard spoken British English is, will you?

version #1 would immediately suggest a non-native speaker, to a native speaker of BrE; while version #2 wouldn’t.

Which part of version #1? BTW, my husband is a native English speaker, teacher and a manager of a large ESL academy. He doesn’t agree with you. He says that many native BrEng speakers use “if I have/get chance, I’ll…” when speaking.

And you stated this: “would be incorrect in written or spoken standard BrE.” So, have you heard it used in Britain, by natives, in any other dialect/sociolect?