as it happens vs as happens (2025)

Hi,

This is a sentence that I thought up. I'm not sure whether to use "it" or not. If you could help me, that would be great. Thanks!!

"However, the expression a couple of is often used loosely in language, as it happens when we are not sure of the exact number of things we are referring to and the number is not important."

The problem for me is that I don't know what you want the expression to mean. This is because an 'expression' cannot 'happen'. So what does "it" refer to?

Could you explain a little more?

I'm still not sure what you mean. For me the two expressions have different meanings and are used differently, e.g.

"We're looking for someone who can ride a horse."
"Well, as it happens, I am an expert rider. I would be the ideal candidate."

If you use "as happens" then it makes much more sense.

"However, the expression a couple of is often used loosely in language, as happens when we are not sure of the exact number of things we are referring to and the number is not important."

Even so I am left wondering what it is that happens. Is it that 'the expression is often used'?

I'm not convinced.

Let's see what others say.

I think "as happens" (relative pronoun as) makes a lot of sense here, and "as it happens" in the usual sense (it as a "place holder") does not work well connected with "when ...", but both as and it are multipurposed.

So I am fairly sure "as happens" is what is intended here, but I agree with Biffo that there may be one or more ways in which "as is happens" might fit, given proper context and punctuation.

Chicanul, do you mean "as" to mean something like "which"? In other words, do you mean that loose use of "a couple of" happens when we are not sure...?

chicanul said:

Sure, "as happens" is what sounds more natural to me...but in other, unrelated cases, I've seen "as it happens" used...I just wanted to say that the expression "a couple of" is used in the same case as when we are not sure of the exact number of things we are referring to and the number is not important.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure of the grammatical terms, but I agree with the others that "as happens" is better here. "As it happens" is also common, but it's used more as a standalone phrase, as in "Do you want anything to eat?" "No thanks. I've already eaten as it happens". Here you could not miss out "it".