Collocations with "Go" and "Come"

Collocations with “Go” and “Come”

English Collocations

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Collocations are pairs of words that often appear together in a language.

Getting a good grasp of collocations can help your English sound smoother and more natural. Two of the most flexible verbs in English are “go” and “come.”

By understanding how to use collocations with these verbs, you can improve your speaking skills and sound more like a native speaker.

I will help you learn common collocations with “go” and “come,” what they mean, and some tips for using them well.

Why Are Collocations Important?

Before diving into the collocations, let’s understand why they matter.

Collocations help you:

Now, let’s explore collocations with “go” and “come.”

Collocations with “Go”

The verb “go” is often used to indicate movement, change, or activity.

Here are some common collocations with “go” grouped into categories:

1. Movement and Travel

  • Go abroad: To travel to another country.
    • Example: She plans to go abroad next summer.
  • Go home: To return to your place of residence.
    • Example: It’s getting late; let’s go home.
  • Go to work: To travel to your workplace.
    • Example: I usually go to work by bus.
  • Go on vacation: To take a holiday.
    • Example: They’re going on vacation to Italy.

2. Activities

  • Go shopping: To buy things from shops.
    • Example: We’re going shopping for clothes this weekend.
  • Go swimming: To engage in the activity of swimming.
    • Example: Let’s go swimming in the lake.
  • Go hiking: To walk in nature, often on trails.
    • Example: They went hiking in the mountains.
  • Go dancing: To participate in dancing.
    • Example: She loves to go dancing on Friday nights.

3. Change or Development

  • Go bad: To spoil or rot (often used with food).
    • Example: The milk will go bad if you don’t refrigerate it.
  • Go crazy: To become very excited or angry.
    • Example: The fans went crazy when their team won.
  • Go missing: To disappear or be lost.
    • Example: His wallet went missing during the trip.
  • Go quiet: To stop making noise.
    • Example: The crowd suddenly went quiet.

4. Expressions and Idiomatic Uses

  • Go ahead: To proceed with something.
    • Example: You can go ahead and start the meeting.
  • Go out: To leave home for social activities.
    • Example: They’re going out for dinner tonight.
  • Go for it: To take a chance and do something.
    • Example: If you want the job, go for it!
  • Go hand in hand: To happen together or complement each other.
    • Example: Hard work and success go hand in hand.

Collocations with “Come”

The verb “come” often implies movement toward a specific point or result.

Here are common collocations with “come”:

1. Movement and Arrival

  • Come home: To return to your place of residence.
    • Example: He came home late last night.
  • Come to a place: To arrive at a specific location.
    • Example: She came to the office early.
  • Come along: To join someone.
    • Example: You can come along if you’d like.

2. Change or Development

  • Come true: To become reality.
    • Example: His dream of becoming a doctor finally came true.
  • Come to an end: To finish or conclude.
    • Example: The meeting came to an end after two hours.
  • Come into effect: To start being used (laws or rules).
    • Example: The new policy will come into effect next month.
  • Come to life: To become lively or interesting.
    • Example: The story came to life with the actor’s performance.

3. Expressions and Idiomatic Uses

  • Come up with: To think of an idea or solution.
    • Example: She came up with a brilliant plan.
  • Come to terms with: To accept a difficult situation.
    • Example: He’s still coming to terms with his loss.
  • Come in handy: To be useful.
    • Example: This tool will come in handy for fixing the bike.
  • Come clean: To confess or tell the truth.
    • Example: It’s time to come clean about what happened.

Tips for Mastering Collocations with “Go” and “Come”

Practice with Context Learn collocations by using them in sentences.

For example:

“I’ll go shopping this afternoon.”

“Her dream of opening a bakery came true.”

Listen and Observe Pay attention to how native speakers use “go” and “come” in conversations, movies, or podcasts. Listening helps you internalize these collocations naturally.

Use Flashcards Create flashcards with collocations on one side and their meanings or example sentences on the other. Review them regularly.

Group by Themes Categorize collocations into themes like travel, emotions, or daily activities. This makes them easier to remember.

Practice Speaking Try using these collocations in your conversations.

For example:

“Let’s go hiking next weekend.”

“I came up with a new idea for the project.”

Write Regularly Practice writing short paragraphs or stories using as many collocations as possible.

For instance:

“Last weekend, I went hiking with my friends. It was amazing to come across a beautiful waterfall.”

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using Incorrect Combinations Avoid mixing words that don’t naturally go together.

For example:

Incorrect: Go a solution.

Correct: Come up with a solution.

Overusing One Collocation Try not to use the same collocation repeatedly. Expand your vocabulary to sound more varied and interesting.

Ignoring Context Remember that some collocations are context-specific.

For example:

“Go out” can mean leaving home for social activities, but it can also mean something stops functioning (e.g., “The lights went out”).

Practice Exercise

Test your knowledge of collocations with “go” and “come.” Fill in the blanks with the correct collocation:

  1. I need to ______ shopping for groceries.
  2. Her wish finally ______ true when she won the competition.
  3. Let’s ______ hiking this weekend.
  4. He ______ up with a great idea for the presentation.
  5. It’s late; I should ______ home now.

Answers:

  1. go
  2. came
  3. go
  4. came
  5. go

Conclusion

Understanding how to use “go” and “come” in different phrases is a great way to get better at speaking English.

These phrases are often heard in daily chats, so they are really important for anyone learning the language.

If you practice a lot and think about how these words fit into sentences, you’ll be able to use them easily and sound more natural.

Begin adding them to your conversations and writing right away, and you’ll see improvements really soon!

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