Tell me more ×
English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 3 down vote favorite
1

I found my present flat completely by __.

  1. luck
  2. coincidence
  3. chance

What will be the most appropriate word in this sentence?

share|improve this question

2 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

By chance is what you are looking for, as you found it unexpectedly. Also it sounds the most natural.

share|improve this answer
up vote 5 down vote

Actually, any of the words would work just about as well in your example: by chance and by coincidence emphasize the random nature of the occurrence and are interchangeable, while by luck adds an element of good fortune to it. The concept of luck mitigates the sense of randomness to some extent, as many people perceive luck to be a mystical, deterministic power that operates on behalf of someone.

So it all depends on what you mean.

share|improve this answer
2  
By chance IS luck - by luck sounds wrong – mplungjan Mar 2 '11 at 13:55
1  
I agree with mplungjan. "I found my ___ by luck" is non-idiomatic. I can't imagine a native speaker saying that under any circumstances. "I found my ___ by coincidence" is quasi-possible as an introductory clause, in the event that something else happened of significance. "By chance" means "by accident" in this context and is natural. – The Raven Mar 2 '11 at 16:36
@mplungjan, @The Raven: Well, in the sense that you can have good luck or bad luck, sure. But I believe I qualified the statement sufficiently. For some people, luck is deterministic, not random, and that's what they mean when they use the word. And if you can say you found something "by sheer good luck" you ought to be able to say you found it "by luck" — or so it seems to me. – Robusto Mar 2 '11 at 16:40
1  
@The Raven I'm with @Robusto on this. I don't think by luck is non-idiomatic. A simple google search for "by luck" returns many results. In fact, the phrase would sound far more natural to me than by chance in several situations: "Did you win that game of darts by luck or by skill?" – ghoppe Mar 2 '11 at 23:52
@The Raven Of course, now that I posted that I realize you mean "I found my X by luck" is non-idiomatic, not just "by luck." Even then, I respectfully disagree. I would use "by chance" if I wasn't actively looking for/missing something, but If I were looking for something and somehow stumbled upon it in an unlikely location, I could imagine exclaiming "I found my missing X purely by luck!" – ghoppe Mar 2 '11 at 23:57

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.