Questions about example sentences with, and the definition and usage of "Happen"

Example sentences using "Happen"

Synonyms of "Happen" and their differences

Q: What is the difference between It's happened and It happened ?
A: Contrary to what wrote ("it's happened is incorrect and never used"), in fact "it's happened" is acceptable and often used. The Corpus of Contermpoary American English shows 1047 instances of its use. The British National Corpus shows its use at a similar rate per 100,000 words. The classic texts at Gutenberg.org show it 187 times.

"It's happened" is typically (but not necessarily) a recent report of something that has just now, just recently, happened. (Say, for example, "Jane finally had her baby! It's happened!") Of course, it can also indicate a general assertion that something has been known to and has in fact happened at various times in the past: often rephrased as "it's been known to happen.". Note that "it's" here is a contraction of "it HAS (happened)" and NOT for "it IS (happened)." "It's" is acceptable as a contraction for "has" when that is being used as an auxiliary verb in the present perfect. ("It IS happened" would be wrong, but "it HAS happened" is OK, and can be contracted to "it's happened" in normal speech.)

In contrast, "It happened" is an assertion that a particular event occurred. It might be used, for example, to reply to someone's statement of disbelief about whether something occurred. And it could be used (with additional words) to provide detail: "it happened yesterday/in 1917/etc," It's the equivalent of "it DID happen."

Examples of usage of "its happened" to mean "it has happened" include the following:
1) It's happened to me and it's happened to just about everyone I know.
2) It's happened in most of the islands – Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic' Causton grinned. 'It's happened more than once in the Dominican Republic.'
3) -- “I suppose not,” Joe said slowly. “Does it happen often?”
-- “To me? It’s happened several times. It’s happened to my sister. It’s happened to people I know. You do think it’s strange, don’t you?”
4) "I knew Kay would get at me somehow, of course. ... I'm jolly glad it's happened. I now retire into private life." (from P.G. Wodehouse)
5) “Well, suppose something has happened?” Lise's reply was pert, defiant. “What's it to you? If anything's happened, it's happened to me—hasn't it?” (from a book by Winston Churchill -- yes, THAT Wintston Chruchill, quite competent at English)
6) I don't say you (would do that), Freddy. But it's happened that way. -- from a book by Upton Sinclair. (Yes, THAT Upton Sinclair)
7) "Oh, sir," she panted. "I don't know how it's happened. There's not a servant on the place that'd dare to talk—they all have their orders." -- from The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
8) “Pete, [it ap]pears to me you've said [that] before.”
“S[ure. That's because] it's happened before.” -- by Zane Grey

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