Just Happen To / Might As Well

Many unplanned events happen in our lives, and we often make decisions quickly, based on those events. The following two expressions are used in these kinds of situations. Both expressions are extremely common among native English speakers, but seldom used by English language learners.

Just Happen To

The conversational just happen to is used in situations where the subject of the sentence is involved in a coincidence. In a coincidence, there is no plan for the action in the main verb to occur.

The simple present & simple past forms of just happen to are followed only with an unintentional verb (ie. to see, to be, to have).


- I just happened to see a hat on sale so I decided to buy it.

- The hat happened to be on sale, and I happened to have enough money, so I bought it. (the speaker didn't plan for the hat to be on sale


If the main verb is intentional (i.e. go), the form of the verb becomes be + ing to reflect a moment in time.

I just happened to be walking by the bar when I heard music inside.

My friend happened to be going downtown the same time as I was, so we decided to go together.

I just happened to be making a phone call when the meteorite struck the phone booth.


Might As Well

The expression might as well is used when all the circumstances surrounding a certain situation are so perfect that the decision to do the verb becomes almost inevitable. It is often used with just happen to. The decision to do the verb is usually spontaneous, rather than planned. It is the structure we use at the exact moment a decision is made about a course of action to be followed.

It is always followed by the root verb in present. It is not used in the past to indicate coincidence. If the speaker wants to express a past action, the preceding verb can be in the simple past.

- I just happened to see a hat on sale so I thought I might as well buy it.

(i.e. I needed a hat, I had enough money in my pocket, the hat was on sale -- all the circumstances were perfect).

- I'm already wet from the rain, it's quite hot today, and the water in the pool is warm. I might as well go swimming.

- I just happened to be in the neighbourhood so I figured I might as well pay her a visit.


Also, might as well is used sometimes in situations where there is no good alternative to a number of choices, and the speaker makes a choice about which s/he is not completely happy.

- I don't really care if we go to a movie or to the park or stay home. We might as well just stay home.

In this use of might as well (an uninteresting choice), it is possible to use a past form. In such cases, might as well is followed by have + root verb.

- Today, I got in a car accident and I lost my wallet. I might as well have stayed home.



If you are an English language learner, please feel free to create your own example using one or both of these expressions, and post it using the Comments feature. I will let you know whether or not it is correct, and, if it isn't, how to fix it.


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What is a Conversational?

The ability to communicate well is very important to me.

I started teaching English in Japan, and later I started a language school in Canada. After teaching English to students from all over the world for about four years, I started to notice something. I noticed that there were some things that students wanted to say that they couldn't say. Even very advanced English students, who had studied a lot of grammar and vocabulary, had this problem. They were studying English to communicate, but they were not able to say what they really wanted to say. There were holes in their English.

I learned, by listening to my students, that these holes in their English, were shared by students from different countries. For example, a Spanish-speaking student and a Japanese-speaking student both wanted to say the same thing, but they both didn't know how to say it. They had the same hole. I became determined to help them fill those holes.

I came up with a series of lessons to fill those holes. I created these lessons using a simple method. I listened to myself when I spoke naturally. Any time I heard myself repeat something a few times, I made a note. If it was something that my students didn't know, I made it into a lesson. My students loved the lessons, because they told me that the lessons immediately improved their English conversation abilities. Eventually, the series of lessons became known as Conversationals.

I present it to you here because I believe that all people should be able to communicate as well as they want to communicate.

For every teacher, a class that participates is much better than a class that doesn't, so please ask questions and make comments if there is anything that you don't understand.