A mouthful of English

Go is the most common verb of movement in English. Most of us spend the whole day going places – we go to school, we go to the cinema, and we go to other countries, for example. We can go home on foot , go to the shops by car , or go to work by bike . Instead of go , however, we often use other verbs that describe how the movement happens. So, I may walk home, drive to the shops, or cycle to work. Some of these verbs of movement can take an object – if I walk the children to school , I accompany them on foot. Similarly, I can walk my dog (when I take it out for a walk) or drive somebody to the airport (if I give them a lift to the airport in my car).

The words up and down often indicate direction, usually following a verb of movement like go or come – the temperature goes up or down , and p rices usually go up . But up and down are used with many other verbs – you can look up or look down , for example. You can walk up a street , run up the stairs , or drive down a hill . And they say that Santa Claus climbs down chimneys on Christmas Eve. English often uses a verb expressing how somebody moves ( walk, run, drive ), and a word like up or down to show direction. A similar meaning is found in phrasal verbs like get up , stand up , sit down and lie down . Sometimes, the verb takes an object. You may put a poster up on the wall, or you may take it down . When getting dressed, you pull your socks up . If you can't hear the radio properly, you turn it up . If you want to write you can pick up a pencil, and when you finish you put it down .

‘I don’t know if I’m coming or going !’ Go means ‘move from one place to another.’ We go to work , we go to bed , and we go on holiday . Come means, basically, ‘move towards the speaker.’ Besides, both go and come – and other verbs of movement – often combine with words like in , out , up , or down , to refer to different directions. When you enter a room, you may be coming in o going in , depending on the speaker’s point of view. In other words, depending on where the speaker is. He’s going into the head teacher’s office. The choice between go in and come in, come up and come down, will depend on the context, and the speaker’s position is key. Come may also mean ‘move with the speaker or in the direction of the listener ’.   That’s why we say ‘Coming!’ when somebody is waiting for us, to let them know that we’re on our way – when the doorbell rings, for instance.