Give someone a chance means to give someone the opportunity to do something or prove themselves. People often use it to ask to be heard: Give me a chance to explain. It also works with things: give it a chance means try it, don't reject it straight away.
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give + person + a chance (to + verb); give + person + another/a second chance; give a chance to + person; give + something + a chance; given the chance, + clause
- The manager gave me a chance to lead the project, even though I was new.
- We decided to give him a second chance after he apologised.
- Give the new café a chance — it doesn't look like much, but the coffee is excellent.
What changed
First versionWhy don't you give to him one more chance?
RevisionWhy don't you give him one more chance?
The person receives the chance, so to can seem logical. But when the person comes straight after give, there's no preposition: give him a chance. To appears only when the chance is mentioned before the person: give a chance to new players. The correction removes to.
Given the chance at the start of a sentence doesn't describe a chance someone received; it means if I had the opportunity: Given the chance, I'd live by the sea. People use it to talk about what they would do if they could. Given a chance is used with the same meaning.
Your turn
Please don't interrupt — just ___ to explain what happened.
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give me a chance — The speaker asks not to be interrupted and to be allowed to explain, and in English that's give me a chance. Possibility means something that might happen, and you can't give it to someone.
Describe a time when someone gave you a chance. Say who it was and what you managed to achieve.
My first boss gave me a chance to work with international clients, and within a year I was managing my own accounts.
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