Is "a chance" correct?

[Tan Elaine]

Liang told the court he was remorseful for his actions and asked District Judge Ronald Gwee to give him a chance.

The above is from a local newspaper.

Is "a chance" correct?

Thanks.

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Yes.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Give him a chance to reform?

Not a teacher.

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Yes. Or give him a chance to show that he can be a good, productive person and that his crime will not be repeated.

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Or give him a chance to do it again! ;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

I would normally expect that to be "another chance" or a "second chance".

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

As usual, Mike is right. It's a mistake. It should be "another chance" or "a second chance." Or "one more chance." Or he could ask the judge to give him a break.

 

[Tan Elaine]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Thanks to all the members who responded to my post.

Why should it be second chance when he has not been given an earlier chance?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Well he did have a chance before. He could have done the right thing. But he didn't.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Can it be regarded as a chance to get off scot-free?

 

[emsr2d2]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

As an underlying meaning, yes. However, it reports that he specifically asked the judge for a chance. One assumes he certainly wanted the judge to think he meant "a chance to show you I can be good".

 

[Odessa Dawn]

Re: Is "a chance correct?


Why didn't you, ems, inflect the first verb in the third sentence, please?

 

[SoothingDave]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

Why didn't you, ems, inflect the first verb in the third sentence, please?

A typo.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thanks, I've edited it. It was sort of a typo and sort of a "I've changed my mind" moment. I typed the word "One", then while I was typing "assumes", I decided to change "One" to "I" so I typed the relevant first person singular verb form and then forgot to change "One" to "I".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Re: Is "a chance correct?

I wouldn't read it that way.