Go/Come Down To

Question

Suppose we are talking about the National Football League, and after 15 games in a particular season, both 49ers and NY Giants are tied for the last wild card playoff spot and they have one game left against each other. If I want to say how this one game will decide who goes to the playoffs, could the one of the following be correct?

"After 15 games, the race for the last wild card spot goes down to a single game."
"After 15 games, the race for the last wild card spot comes down to a single game."

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

The correct and usual idiom is "comes down to".

CJ

MeggPhaggSioux · Answer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/19/AR2005111900874.html

"That game went down to the final play as well, first in regulation when Seattle kicker Josh Brown's 47-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright, and then in overtime, when rookie Nick Novak nailed a 39-yard field goal to win it for the Redskins. "

Could "go down to" be sports talk?

CalifJim · Answer

No. I doubt it's restricted to sports talk. This is just a different idiom - even though there are a lot of similarities that make them interchangeable at times.

went down to = continued until

came down to = reduced to; amounted to

went down to emphasizes continuation, maybe even a long continuation, up to a particular time.

came down to emphasizes a process of elimination in which the final step is the most crucial.

In this example the writer might even have decided to say, "That game came down to the final play" because it seems to me that he wanted to emphasize how crucial the final play was. As it is, it seems that he's emphasizing how long the game had to continue before the game was decided in the final play. Either way works depending on the emphasis the writer wishes to make.

CJ

Go/Come Down To

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