come on

Interesting..I haven't thought about this before, though I have been learning Eng. for 7 years..

I thought we had this discussion once before, but I can't find it through "Search".

"on" adds encouragement. "over" emphasizes the trajectory. "here" or "there" emphasizes the destination. "come" and "go" are hardly ever used 'bare' compared to all the other variants.

come here, come over here,
come on, come on over,
come on here, come on over here,

CalifJim "on" adds encouragement. "over" emphasizes the trajectory. "here" or "there" emphasizes the destination. "come" and "go" are hardly ever used 'bare' compared to all the other variants.

Is there any other expression you can come up with where 'on' is added to imply encouragement?

No other expressions come to mind immediately.

Maybe, "Move on!" (police speaking to members of a crowd gawking at an accident, for example.)
Maybe, "Run on ahead (and see ...).

In other expressions, "on" seems to convey the idea of continuation of a process already in progress, possibly mixed with encouragement.

Get on with it.
Drive on.

CalifJimNo other expressions come to mind immediately.

Maybe, "Move on!" (police speaking to members of a crowd gawking at an accident, for example.)

I thought 'on' in 'move on' or 'go on' implied contiuation.

That, too, of course.

Also "bring it on!"

Could the "encouragement" and "continuation" be the same thing?

Cf. "dream on!" – an ironic encouragement that you continue to dream.

MrP

Come on, MrP! What are you thinking?

In "Come on" above, what is it that I am asking you to conti

That's true. Cf.

1. Oh, come on!

2. Come on, MrP!

Ironic encouragement?

<straw-just-beyond-finger-tips emoticon>

MrP

LOL. Loved the emoticon!