Confusing Words:
Come
and
Go
The common verbs
come
and
go
are often confusing.
One reason this happens is that
come and
go have the
same
basic meaning, but are used for
different
directions.
Come
is used to show movement
toward
or
in the
direction of
the speaker or the person being
spoken to:
My cousin is coming to see
me next week.
Are you coming to my party?
May I come to your party,
too?
That man's coming toward us.
Who is he?
I need to make an
appointment with Dr. Jones.
Can I come to see him at
11:00 tomorrow?
Dr. Jones is in a meeting at
11:00. Can you
come for your appointment at
11:30?
Go
is used to show movement
away from the speaker
or the person being spoken to:
I'm going to see my cousin
next week.
Are you going to Bill's
party?
That man's going toward your
car. Who is he?
I need to go to the bank
this afternoon.
Ginny wants to go to Bora
Bora on her vacation.
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Special Notes
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1. |
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The idiom come
from (present
tense) is
used to talk about one's
home town, home
state, home country,
etc.:
Irina comes from
Moscow.
Joe comes from
California.
Uyanga comes from
Mongolia.
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Go
is often used with the
preposition to:
go to bed / go to
school /
go to the movies /
go to class /
go to church / go to
work
go to the grocery
store /
go to sleep /
go to a party /
go to a concert
(etc.)
In a few fixed
expressions, however,
go
is used without
a preposition:
go home / go
downtown /
go uptown
Go
is also commonly used
with adverbs
of place, direction, and
accompaniment:
go inside / go
outside / go away
go up / go down / go
over /
go under / go around
/
go with (etc.)
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Go
is also used with many
-ing verbs.
These "go
verbing"
expressions usually
describe leisure-time
activities:
go biking / go
bowling /
go camping / go
dancing /
go drinking / go
fishing /
go hiking / go
horseback riding /
go ice skating / go
jogging /
go rollerblading /
go sailing /
go shopping / go
skating /
go windowshopping
(etc.)
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