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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

'Come' + Time

Come early September, we will have a general assembly.
Came late in the afternoon, I still got no response.

Are the sentence structures above with the verb 'come' grammatically correct and naturally spoken?
  

Top answer

Hi, Come early September, we will have a general assembly. Fine Came late in the afternoon, I still got no response. I wouldn't say this is wrong, but it sounds odd and not natural.

  • Hi, Come early September, we will have a general assembly.
  • Fine Came late in the afternoon, I still got no response.
  • I wouldn't say this is wrong, but it sounds odd and not natural.
  • The structure you are asking about is most commonly used when speaking about the future.
  • If I wanted to speak about the past, I'd be more inclined to say eg Come late afternoon, I had still received no response.
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6 Answers
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Hi,

Come early September, we will have a general assembly. Fine

Came late in the afternoon, I still got no response.

I wouldn't say this is wrong, but it sounds odd and not natural.

The structure you are asking about is most commonly used when speaking about the future.

If I wanted to speak about the past, I'd be more inclined to say
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"Come in early September, we will have a general assembly." You should say in. More examples, "Come in January," "I came here in May," "I'm leaving in June" - note the usage of in.

In terms of it being naturally spoken, people would probably instead say "Come in early September, we're having a general assembly" or "Come in early September, we're going to have a gen
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Thank you, Clive, for your helpful response. I would write as you've suggested then.

Actually, I tend to avoid using the past perfect because some say the simple past will suffice, but I believe in your suggestion, it is more appropriate and emphatic.
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Thank you, hmea1, for sharing your thoughts on this.

Sorry, I've got a little confused here.

Clive,

Would you agree that 'in' before a month is also acceptable?
Incidentally, can I say "Come late in the afternoon" instead of "Come late afternoon"? How is it different?
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Hi again,

Would you agree that 'in' before a month is also acceptable? No, with this structure I wouldn't agree.

'Come a time' is a fixed kind of phrase.

eg Come 6 pm, this office is deserted.

eg Come Friday, everybody heads out of the city.

eg Come September, I'm moving to Canada.

Incidentally, can I say "Come late in the afterno
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Thank you, Clive, for your clarification. I really appreciate it.

I had a look at the lyrics and even listenen to the song on the internet.
I liked it because I'm a fan of Natalie Imbruglia.

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