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SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY

09 / 07 / 2007

SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY: meaning and examples

Good morning. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

This week will be the last week of Daily Vitamins before the summer. We will start the week off by answering a question that we received recently from Daniel:

Dear Matthew,
I remember you answered an email from me some time ago. It was about the “taking advantage” expression as well. You suggested "seize the opportunity" as a more appropriate term though. Could you please further explain the best use of such expressions? Thanks a lot in advance and congrats for your excellent and educative job.
Best regards, Daniel Merino

Today's Expression is: to seize the opportunity

It means: to be quick to make use of a chance or an opportunity.

We also say take the opportunity or seize the moment.

Example 1:
He decided to seize the opportunity and ask her to marry him, before she accepted the job abroad.  

Although there is some relation between the expressions seize an opportunity and take advantage of something, they are not always synonyms and cannot always be used interchangeably. We would have to make some changes in example 1 in order for take advantage to work, for example.

Example 2:
He decided to take advantage of the situation and ask her to marry him, before she accepted the job abroad.

I hope that answers your question, Daniel. If not, please post your questions about today's Daily Vitamin in the Daily Vitamin Plus! forum section on our website.

Enjoy your day.