Thursday Tidbits - Are you coming or going?

Are you coming or going? … July 14th, 2011

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. Let’s look at the difference.

Come

Come is used to show movement of someone or something that will be arriving at the destination of the speaker, where the speaker will be, or something belonging to the speaker. Here are some examples:

My cousin is coming to see me next week.

Are you coming to my party?

That man's coming toward us. Who is he?

He came to my office, but I wasn’t there.

Go

Go is used to show movement of someone, something, or the speaker from a destination that may or may not arrive to the destination indicated. Here are some examples:

I'm going to see my cousin next week.

Are you going to Bill's party?

I need to go to the bank this afternoon.

Ginny wants to go to Bora Bora on her vacation.

 Check yourself

Complete the following sentences with come or go. Also, be sure to use the correct form of the verb.

1. I will be at the baseball game. Are you ____________?

2. The police __________ to my house last Saturday night.

3. The stranger was ______________ toward me.

4. The flight is ____________ to Chicago.

5. U2 is planning to __________ to my city!

6. What time is she ________________ to my wedding?

7. No one is _____________ to the beach because of the rain.

8. The package ____________ to my house this morning.

9. This traffic is ____________ nowhere!

10. It __________ to my attention that some of you are upset.

Answers to last week’s Check yourself:

1. When I moved to my new apartment, I found a lot of __mice__ in the basement.

2. Many people say that cats have nine __lives___.

3. I cut my hand with a __knife__ by accident.

4. Most people have 32 ____teeth___ in their mouth.

5. The park was full of many ___children__ playing games.

6. I was robbed by a __thief___ while walking in downtown San Jose.

7. Most __women___ carry lipstick in their purses.

8. Both of my __feet___ hurt after walking for 4 hours.

9. All of the ___men___ in my family are bald.

10. I need to speak with a _person__ from the accounting department.