Happen vs. Occur vs. Take Place
Happen & Occur: Both have the SAME meaning, but occur is more formal. You can’t use happen with “ideas”, e.g: “That idea never occurred to me” OK “That idea never happened to me” WRONG. Take Place: Use it with: planned event, something specific Scale: Occur ---- Formal Happen ---- Average Take Place ---- Informal Occur and Happen are verbs and in this context they express spontaneous situations. Take Place is a phrasal verb, and it works with planned events.