It's opportune for him to go to Ely (3)
I believe the answer is:
tim
'ely' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'it's opportune for him to go to' is the wordplay.
'it' becomes ''t' (abbreviation. e.g. in 'tis).
'opportune for him' becomes 'im' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'to go to' means one lot of letters go next to another.
't'+'im'='TIM'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tim that I've seen before include "Tiny ..., endearing Dickens boy" , "Tiny Dickens boy from 'A Christmas Carol'" , "Tiny ..., Bob Cratchit's son in A Christmas Carol" , "- Rice, musical lyricist" , "Little fellow" .)