What is the difference between a scenario and situation?

Technically a situation would be a given circumstance to which one reacts. So you could have a hostage situation but not a hostage scenario. The ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Whatisthedifferencebetweenascenarioandsituation? AskQuestion Asked 7years,10monthsago Active 5years,11monthsago Viewed 45ktimes 4 1 BasedonasurveydonegloballyIhavebeentaskedwithwritingahelpguidetocoverscenariosandsituations-foracloudappIcreated.ButIdon'tunderstandwhatthedifferenceisbetweenascenarioandsituation.Ifeelliketheyareallscenariosbutwhenonglobalcallsthepairkeepscomingup.Isthereanydifferenceinthiscontext? meaningmeaning-in-contextcomparisons Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedFeb20'14at20:01 RyeɃreḁdRyeɃreḁd 16.6k66goldbadges4242silverbadges8181bronzebadges Addacomment  |  9Answers 9 Active Oldest Votes 5 Inmyexperience,"scenario"isusedinawrittenguideasinthisexample: "Inthisscenario,theuseristryingtocreateanewrecordforaclientwhoisalreadyinthedatabaseunderamisspelledname.Howcouldthisuseravoidaddingthesecondrecord?" A"situation"ismorefact-basedonarealseriesofeventsleadingtotheeventthatneedstoberesolved.Igenerallywouldnotuse"situation"inawrittenguidebecause(IMO)itissupposedtoberepresentativeofasetoffactsusedtotrainorguideagroupofpeople,notprovideanecdotalexamples... ...unlessIwantedtointerspersereal-lifeexamplesandthenIwoulduse"situation".Forexample: "Arecentreal-lifeexampleofthisissuewasreportedbyourhelpdeskwhenaclientcouldn'tgenerateanXYZReportaftertheupgrade.Inthatsituation,TechSupportshouldsuggest...". Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb20'14at21:07 KristinaLopezKristinaLopez 26.2k66goldbadges5353silverbadges111111bronzebadges 2 Ithinkthisisthebestexplanationsofar.Doyouthinkthatitwouldwarranthavingtheseassectionsinahelpguide?Wouldpeoplebeconfused?WeneedsomeBritstowayinherebecauseabigclientbaseisUKandIreland. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at23:05 I'msureasotherssaidherealready,itmaybeaculturaldifferenceinusebutIcouldseeasectionofsamplescenariosbutnotasectionofsituations.That'scomingfrommysolelyUSexperiencethough. – KristinaLopez Feb20'14at23:09 Addacomment  |  4 Ibelieveascenarioisconsideredoneofseveralpossibilities. Asin"whatwouldwedointhisscenarioorthatone?" Asituationisacurrentsetofcircumstances. Asin"howwillwegetoutofthismessedupsituation?" Inbattleageneralmightplanforseveralscenarios,butifhedoesn'tplanfortherightone,hemayfindhimselfinastickysituation. Youcanstillsay"howwouldwedealwithitifweendedupinthissituation?"or"howdidwefindourselvesplayingoutthisparticularscenario?"butwe'restillsortofusingthemthesameway.We'reimaginingthefuturescenarioisconcrete(asituation),eventhoughit'sstillonlyapossibility,andwe'reimaginingthecurrentsitiationasoneofmany(ascenario)eventhoughitisnowconcrete. Ihopethatlastparagraphmadesense? Thewordsituatecanalsobeusedforplacingthingsrelativetoeachother.Forexampleyoucouldsituateatablenexttoachair.Ithinkthisisn'treallytheusageyou'reinterestedin,though. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedFeb20'14at23:30 answeredFeb20'14at20:20 EliEli 1,22799silverbadges1111bronzebadges Addacomment  |  3 FromtheOED: Situation- a.Positionofaffairs;combinationofcircumstances.Alsoinmod.usage,withpremodifier,anddesignating:(a)thestateorgeneralcircumstancesofsomethingataparticulartime,ascoalsituation,etc.(andwhichisacknowledgedtochangefromtimetotime);(b)aparticularstateofaffairsoroccasionexistingindependently,asstandingcreditsituation,crisissituation,etc. Scenario- Asketch,outline,ordescriptionofanimaginedsituationorsequenceofevents;esp.(a)asynopsisofthedevelopmentofahypotheticalfutureworldwar,andhenceanoutlineofanypossiblesequenceoffutureevents;(b)anoutlineofanintendedcourseofaction;(c)ascientificmodelordescriptionintendedtoaccountforobservablefacts.Hence,inweakenedsenses(noteasilydistinguishablefromsense1atransf.andfig.):acircumstance,situation,scene,sequenceofevents,etc. Theover-useofthiswordinvariousloosesenseshasattracted frequenthostilecomment.—R.W.B. Technicallyasituationwouldbeagivencircumstancetowhichonereacts.Soyoucouldhaveahostagesituationbutnotahostagescenario.Thescenarioisthethingwhichisdoneinresponsetothesituationortheintendcourseofaction.Soyoucouldplanascenarioinwhichyouwouldhavetorespondtoahostagesituation. Inanetymologicalsensethisissupported-situationcomesfromtheLatinsitusor'site'(asinageographiclocation)whereasscenariocomesfromscenaor'scene'(inthesenseofaplayordrama).Soasituationisasingularlocation/combinationofpropertiesatapointintimewhereasascenarioisaseriesofeventsthatfollowlogicallywithinacausalframeofreference(likeasceneinaplay-connectedbutdistinctevents). However,astheOEDeditorsnotewithmuchchagrin,theusageofthetwotermshasbecomesoblurredthatafunctionaldistinctionbetweenthetwoisoftenimpossible. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb20'14at20:11 pavja2pavja2 1,88922goldbadges1313silverbadges2020bronzebadges 1 1 I'llgowiththis.OEDspecificallysayimaginedsituationintheirscenariodefinition.Althoughbothwordsareoftenusedsynonymously,"hypothetical"iscertainlyoneaspectthatIassociatemorestronglywithscenarios. – FumbleFingers Feb20'14at23:54 Addacomment  |  0 ThedistinctionisVERYsubtle.Andthey'refrequentlyusedinterchangeably. Thescenarioistheunderlyingsetting.Essentiallythebackground. Thesituationcanmeanthesame.But,italsocanmeanwhatisgoingonatthecurrenttime(especiallywithregardtophysicallocationofitems).Itimpliesacertaintemporalorspacialunderstandingoftheconditionsathand. What'sthescenariohere?Sir,lastweekrebelsbrokeintothecompoundandstoleabomb.Theyhavethreatenedtoblowuptheworldsupplyofnoveltyglasseswithnoseandmustachesattached. What'sthesituation?Therebelsarethreateningtousethatbombtoblowupthetheworld'sHelloKittypencilcasesupply.Wehaveamanontheinside.Heisdisguisedasagiantpandabear.Hetellsus… Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb20'14at20:10 DavidMDavidM 21.9k1010goldbadges7171silverbadges120120bronzebadges 8 IamtaskedwithhavingmyteamwritingaHelpGuide.Nothingisgoingintheguideduringthe"currenttime".Idounderstandthisvariancebutdon'tunderstandhowthesearedifferentsectionsinaHelpGuide. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:13 Inahelpguide,youarelikelytohelpwithsituations,notscenarios. – DavidM Feb20'14at20:15 Iagree-Iamnotsayingscenarioisabetterterm.Ijustwantoneterm.Ican'timaginemytechwritershavingtogothroughthelistof"topics"andtrytodecidewhichisthesituationandwhichisthescenario. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:17 Justswitchalltosituation.Scenarioisabackground.It'sunlikelythatyouwillhavetodealwithascenario. – DavidM Feb20'14at20:18 Buttheywantthemseparatedbasedonthembeingdifferentthingstothem-hencemyquestion.Iamnotsayingtheyaredifferent. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:18  |  Show3morecomments 0 Thissoundslikeaninstanceofsomeonebeingrepetitiveandredundant.Inthiscase,itseemstohavebeencontagious.Thewordsofcourseoftenhavedifferentusagesandconnotations,asyouwillseeifyoucheckoutadictionary,butinthiscontextIdon'tknowwhatthedistinctioncouldbe. It'spossiblethatsomethingismeantbythisdistinction,butwithoutmoreconcreteinformationaboutyoursituation/scenario,it'sdifficulttotell.Forexample,onepossibilitycouldbethatscenarioreferstoacertainstateinsideyourapp,whereassituationisreferringtothereal-worldcircumstancesoftheuser. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb20'14at20:12 WinnieNicklausWinnieNicklaus 66111goldbadge55silverbadges1010bronzebadges 5 Oneofmyquestionsonourlastcallwas"Can'twejustlumpthesituationswiththescenarios?"Andoneofthepeoplesaid,"Wewouldratherkeeptheseparateforeasierreference."ItiseitheraculturalthingorIamgettingplayed. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:15 Haha.Thatisclassic.Idon'tknowwhattotellyou.Perhapsthereissometechnicalmeaningthatyourcoworkershaveagreedtouse,chosenatameetingyouwerenotinvitedto. – WinnieNicklaus Feb20'14at20:16 Thisisonacallwith20peopleineveryregionoftheworld.Thereseemstobesomehonestyinwantingthis.Iamlostintranslation.MostofthesepeoplearenativeEnglishspeakersbutnotall. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:18 1 Iwouldjustaskthemtoclarify.Thespecsforthehelpguidehaveobviouslynotbeenspecifiedinenoughdetail. – WinnieNicklaus Feb20'14at20:19 NoIwillbutwaslookingtogetsomeinsightbeforeIgoinandaskthemwhythesethingsaredifferent.Wewillseeifanyonecancomeupwithanything.Ifitisvalid,itstilllendsitselftoagoodprank. – RyeɃreḁd Feb20'14at20:21 Addacomment  |  0 "Scenario"isfancyandspecialized.Peoplemayuseitwhentheymean"situation,"justtosoundfancy.Thiswouldbesimilartothewaypeopleuse"usage"for"use"and"visitation"for"visit." "Scenario"hastheconnotationofascene.Thiscouldbeaphysicalscenesuchasabattlefieldoratheaterstage(hencetheuseof"scenario"inwargaming),oritcouldbeacomingtogetherofcertainevents,people,andthings,asinasceneinanovel.Asinawargameorafictionalscene,we'reinterestedintheflowofeventsthatledtothescene.Asinthoseexamples,there'stheconnotationthatwe'replanningforthepossibilityorlistingvariouspossibilitiesandcomparingthem.There'susuallysomethingatstake,whichyoucareaboutandwanttoplanfor. Inanycasewheretheseconnotationsarenotpresent,use"situation."Forexample,ifI'mwalkingmydogandshepoopsonsomeone'slawn,there'snoconnotationofaflowofeventsorofplanning,orofanythingbigatstake. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb21'14at0:37 user16723user16723 Addacomment  |  0 Ascenarioisaprocess.(Sometimesdescribedverygenerally,eg"Asauser,Iwanttobeabletocompilemyprogram.") Asituationisastateofaffairsataspecificpointintime.("Theserverisinsmallpiecesscatteredacrossthefloor.") "Thissituationistheresultofascenarioinvolvingabrokencompiler,afrustrateduser,andahammer..." Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredFeb21'14at3:07 keshlamkeshlam 4,5471515silverbadges2525bronzebadges Addacomment  |  0 Actuallyinfiction,film,andwritingIhaveunderstooda"scenario"tomeanhowa"situation"relatestotheplot(andthescenariomaybetheshortestabstractofwhattheplotinastoryis)--andhowthe"scenario"playsoutregardingthesituationandplot.SosituationandscenarioaremingledtogethernowinsomecirclesofEnglishoritsrelatedfields. (grad.writingstudent) Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJan22'16at18:13 CrankCrank 1 Addacomment  |  0 AScenarioisawrittenoutlineofwhathappensinasceneorsequenceofeventsregardingtheplotinafilm/movieorplay.Synopsisorsituationdescribethesceneliterallyandhowthecomponentsofthesettingrelatetoeachotherandtheplot. http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/scenario Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedJan22'16at18:35 DineshKumarGarg 2,3401010goldbadges2929silverbadges5656bronzebadges answeredJan22'16at18:02 CrankCrank 1 Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. 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