This mini episode teaches you the useful idiom “to stand a chance."
Episode 236 of the Everybody ESL podcast is a mini episode that teaches you the useful idiom “to stand a chance.” Send your questions about English and your suggestions for future episodes to EverybodyESL@gmail.com! (And let me know if you’d like to record the introduction to a future episode.)
Intro
“Hello, everyone. This is Daniela from Colombia, and you are listening to this amazing podcast, Everybody ESL.”
Welcome to episode 236 of Everybody ESL, the podcast for everybody who wants to improve their English, practice their English, or just learn more English. My name is Ben, and I have a mini episode for you today, where I am going to teach you about one English topic. You can subscribe to the Everybody ESL podcast at Apple podcasts, on the Stitcher app, and wherever you find your podcasts. If you like Everybody ESL, leave it a good review so other people can find out about it too. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for me, please send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. Okay! Let’s get on with this mini episode.
The episode
The expression I’m going to teach you today is “stand a chance.” Stand a chance. That’s stand: s-t-a-n-d, a, chance: c-h-a-n-c-e. Stand a chance. What does “stand a chance” mean? To stand a chance means to have a chance or a possibility of succeeding. If you stand a chance, it means there is some possibility that you will succeed. There is some possibility that you will win. And if you don’t stand a chance, that means there is no chance or no possibility that you will succeed or win.
Let me give you an example of a situation where you might hear the expression “stand a chance.”
Let’s say that my friend has applied for a job. And my friend does not have a lot of experience, and my friend does not have a very good education. I might say, “My friend doesn’t stand a chance of getting that job.” My friend doesn’t stand a chance of getting that job. In other words, I don’t think there is any possibility. I don’t think there is any likelihood that he will get that job.
And let’s say I have a second friend. And this other friend has also applied for a job. And this friend has a lot of experience, and this friend is very highly educated. In the case of this other friend, I might say she stands a very good chance of getting the job. Or I could say, “Oh, she definitely stands a chance of getting the job.” In other words, “Yes. There is definitely a chance or a possibility that she will get this job.”
Now you might be wondering, “Why do we use the verb stand in this expression? Why do we stand a chance?”
Well, the answer is, I don’t know.
This is another good example of an idiom. In other words, it is an expression that you just need to memorize as one big thing. It really will not work if you try to understand it by looking at the parts, because then you will ask a very good question like “Why does it use the word stand?” But there really is not a good answer for that good question. You really just need to learn this as one big thing— to stand a chance—and understand the meaning of that complete phrase.
And that is “stand a chance,” a very useful expression that I think you should know.
Outro
We’ve reached the end of episode 236 of Everybody ESL. Remember: if you have any questions about English, or if you have comments or suggestions about the podcast, or if you would like to record an introduction that I can use at the beginning of future episodes—the same way Daniela recorded the introduction you heard at the beginning of this episode—send an email to everybodyESL@gmail.com. I’ll be back soon with another episode, and until then, keep going, keep practicing, and keep learning. Goodbye! I’ll see you soon.