The possibilities/opportunities of accessing music are endless.

[ChrisGis]

Hello!
Could someone please tell me if the use of "possibilities" is possible in the following sentences?
1) The possibilities of accessing music are endless.
2) There are a lot of possibilities to keep fit.
Or would "The opportunities of accessing..." and "There are a lot of opportunities to..." sound better?
I've read that this distinction is a very common problem for German native speakers.

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

Hello!
Could someone please tell me if the use of "possibilities" is possible in the following sentences?
1) The possibilities of accessing music are endless.
2) There are a lot of possibilities to keep fit.
Or would "The opportunities of accessing..." and "There are a lot of opportunities to..." sound better?
I've read that this distinction is a very common problem for German native speakers.

Hi ChrisGis und willkommen im Forum!

Oh ja, es gibt einen Unterschied in der Bedeutung. Und wenn die obigen Sätze auch ohne Frage möglich sind, könntest Du sie genauso gut mit "opportunities" bilden. Es ändert sich aber die Bedeutung.

"possibility" ist die "Möglichkeit", etwas zu tun. An Musik zu kommen ist auf viele Arten möglich: selber machen, Platte hören, Runterladen, Konzert besuchen...

"opportunity" ist hingegen die "Gelegenheit" etwas zu tun, so dass folgender Satz möglich wäre: When I was young there were fewer possibilities to contact friends but we had more opportunities to actually talk with each other...

Grüße
Duckduck