[Vocabulary] deal with / cope with / handle

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Ada.Wu

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Oct 28, 2010
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Chinese
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Taiwan
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Taiwan
Could I know when I should use which phrase or word? Why?

e.g. He has learnt to [deal with/cope with/handle] all kinds of complicated situations.
e.g. This is project is so easy that I can [deal with/cope with/handle] it with little effort.


Thank you all for the reply.
 

Munch

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Aug 25, 2010
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English Teacher
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English
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Australia
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Japan
Could I know when I should use which phrase or word? Why?

e.g. He has learnt to [deal with/cope with/handle] all kinds of complicated situations.
e.g. This is project is so easy that I can [deal with/cope with/handle] it with little effort.


Thank you all for the reply.

In each case, I think the meanings would be very similar in your examples. However, I might say "handle it with little effort" just to avoid having "with" twice so close together. Perhaps "cope with" is more passive and only suggests a lack of problems, while "handle" is more active and "deal with" is somewhere between the two.

In some cases they are not interchangeable though. For example:

“I will deal with/ handle this customer” You would not say “cope with” here.
 
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