Usage notes

In its general sense, come'' specifically marks motion towards the (whether explicitly stated or not). Its counterpart, usually referring to motion away from or not involving the deictic centre, is ''go''. For example, the sentence "Come to the tree" implies contextually that the speaker is already at the tree - "Go to the tree" often implies that the speaker is elsewhere. Either the speaker or the listener can be the deictic centre - the sentences "I will go to you" and "I will come to you" are both valid, depending on the exact nuances of the context. When there is no clear speaker or listener, the deictic centre is usually the focus of the sentence or the topic of the piece of writing. "Millions of people came''' to America from Europe" would be used in an article about America, but "Millions of people ' went to America from Europe" would be used in an article about Europe. When used with adverbs of location, come'' is usually paired with ''here'' or ''hither''. In interrogatives, ''come'' usually indicates a question about source - "Where are you coming from?" - while ''go indicates a question about destination - "Where are you going?" or "Where are you going to?" A few old texts use comen as the past participle. The phrase "dream come true" is a set phrase; the verb "come" in the sense "become" is archaic outside of that set phrase and the collocation "come about". The collocations “come with” and “come along” mean accompany, used as “Do you want to come with me?” and “Do you want to come along?” In the Midwestern American dialect, “come with” can occur without a following object, as in “Do you want to come with?” In this dialect, “with” can also be used in this way with some other verbs, such as “take with”. Examples of this may be found in plays by Chicagoan (David Mamet), such as (American Buffalo). Chicago Dialect This objectless use is not permissible in other dialects.

Usage notes

* is often used when both the indicated event, period or change in state occurred in the past.