Professional English Practice · Phrasal Verbs
27 · COME and GO across the particles
Arrival, outcome, and failure: toward you, and away.
ACCESS
A clinic with two verbs, and they are opposites. Come moves toward you; go moves away. One phrase, go about, is never taught here. Predict it from the particle before you read on.
A startup founder and lead, the day after a big demo, working out what the result really means.
Priya The demo went well, but one thing keeps coming up: the price.
Sam Right. We come across as premium, but the market wants cheaper.
Priya So it comes down to positioning. Are we the premium option or not?
Sam Depends how the new tier goes over with existing customers.
Priya If churn spikes, the whole model could go under. Let's not pretend otherwise.
Sam Fair. So how do we go about the repricing without spooking everyone?
ANALYSIS
ONE QUESTION RUNS THIS WHOLE UNIT
Toward me, or away from me?
Two verbs, pulling opposite ways. Come moves toward the speaker and is about arrival and emergence; go moves away and is about outcome and departure. Fix the direction first and the particle is easier than it looks.
The structure
This clinic runs two verbs at once, and they pull in opposite directions. Come moves toward you; go moves away.
Come is about arrival and emergence. A topic comes up (rises into view), you come across a certain way (arrive at an impression), a decision comes down to one thing (settles to its base). Go is about outcome and departure. It goes over well (lands with an audience), it goes through (passes all the way), or it goes under (sinks and fails).
Come up
- Sense
- something rises into view, toward you
- How you know
- nobody delivered it; it appeared on the agenda
- Use it to
- report a topic surfacing
Come across
- Sense
- you arrive at somebody as a certain impression
- How you know
- there is an audience forming a view of you
- Use it to
- report how you are read, not what you said
Go over
- Sense
- the outcome lands with an audience
- How you know
- somebody received it and had a reaction
- Use it to
- report reception, not delivery
Go under
- Sense
- it sinks, and does not come back
- How you know
- there was something afloat before
- Use it to
- report failure, not decline
Two verbs, opposite directions. Come brings it toward you; go sends it away. Read down each table and predict before the meaning column.
Come across, and get across
One of the most useful pairs in the book, and the difference is exactly the difference between the two verbs.
Come across is about you: it is the impression that arrives at the listener, whether you intended it or not. Get across, from Unit 23, is about your message: it is the content arriving, because you worked to send it.
So a presentation can get the risk across perfectly and still come across as defensive. Both crossed the same gap. Only one of them was the thing you were trying to send.
The test you can run with no book
Ask: which way is it moving relative to you?
Toward you and the verb is come: something arrives, appears, or reaches you. Away from you and it is go: something departs, lands elsewhere, or sinks.
Then read the particle exactly as its own unit taught it. Up is into view, across is over to a receiver, over is across and above, under is below the surface.
The mechanical half: come across takes as. He comes across as certain. Without as, come across means to find something by chance instead: I came across the old file.
Two opposite verbs, one set of particles, and the particles behave exactly as they always do. Come up and go under are miles apart, but not because of anything mysterious. Come rises and arrives; go departs and, with under, sinks. The verbs set the direction; the particles set the fate.
ACTIVATION
Work down the page: predict the particle first, then the strangers, then the particle choices, then the words, then say one out loud.
Complete the particle
Complete each one. Come takes up, across, or down to. Go takes over, through, or under. The meaning is in brackets.
Spot and fix the error
Each sentence has the wrong particle. Rewrite it with the right one.
1. We come across as premium, but the market wants cheaper.
2. It comes down to positioning, in the end.
3. It depends how the new tier goes over with customers.
4. If churn spikes, the model could go under.
5. The deal finally went through after months of talks.
Rewrite with come or go plus a particle
Replace the formal verb with come or go plus the particle that carries the same meaning.
1. One issue keeps coming up: the price.
2. We come across as premium.
3. In the end, it comes down to positioning.
4. It depends how well the tier goes over.
5. If churn spikes, the model could go under.
Match the halves
Join each opening to the ending that fits its particle.
Meet a Stranger
These three phrases are not taught anywhere in this book. Predict each from its particle, then reveal the key.
1. “The team came up with three fixes overnight.”
2. Let's go for the aggressive timeline.
3. “Reliable engineers are hard to come by.”
come up with: to produce an idea or solution. Up with: bring it up and out where it can be used.
go for: to choose or pursue something. For: aimed toward a target.
come by: to obtain something, often with difficulty. By: pass close enough to pick it up.
Particle swap
Same verb, three particles, one right answer. Choose the particle the situation needs.
Vocabulary: outcomes
Match each expression to its meaning.
Vocabulary in context
Complete each sentence with an expression from G.