Collocations for happen - verb

actually, really
She couldn''t quite believe that all this was actually happening to her.

just
I don''t remember learning to swim, it just happened.

spontaneously
Sometimes fun activities just happen spontaneously; at other times they take careful planning.

overnight
Change doesn''t happen overnight.

be going to
They could only wait and see what was going to happen.

be likely to | be bound to
Mistakes are bound to happen sometimes.

tend to
What tends to happen is that students spend the first week of the course in a blind panic, but settle down by the second or third week.

want sth to | make sth
You have to make things happen if you want them to happen.

let sth
Don''t just sit back and let it happen.

to
She didn''t know what was happening to her.