Late come

Question

Hi teachers,I have seen this expression many times to describe employees to go to work late.  Could you tell me if this is grammatical and natural English?ThanksTinanam

Ferdis · Accepted Answer

'late come' doesn't make sense to me. Do you mean a latecommer, a person who arrives late?

Avangi · Answer

Hi, Tinanam,
I presume the expression is in the form of two words written on a memo, and not part of a sentence.

Personally, I've never heard it, but I often see or hear "late arrival" used for this purpose.
Perhaps your version is common in a region I'm not familiar with.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi Ferdis, Hi Avangi,

Thank you for answering my question.

I think "Late commer" and "Late arrival" are best suited for memo subject line than "Late come".

Are the following expressions correct and natural English? And how would you say it? (I'm not writing them, I just want to learn how to write them) As I looked up, "come" is a verb, and it does not have a noun form.

- Notes to late commer employees

- Notes to late arrival employees

Thank you.

Tinanam

Mister Micawber · Answer

First, the spelling is thus: 'latecomer'.

I suggest these:

Notes to latecomers

Notes to late arriving employees

No doubt other permutations are in use.

Ferdis · Answer

Mister MicawberFirst, the spelling is thus: 'latecomer'.

Oops

I misspelled that; I'm very sorry.

Avangi · Answer

Anonymous I think "Late commer" and "Late arrival" are best suited for memo subject line than "Late come".

Hi Tinanam,

Just as an aside, this sentence is an interesting study in comparatives and superlatives.

To my ear, one should say, "I think A and B are better suited for X than is C."

You might think that where more than two candidates are involved, the superlative would be required, but it doesn't seem to work out that way. Perhaps someone can come up with a rule for this situation.
Perhaps another solution would be, "I think A or B is better suited for X than is C," but the meaning is a little different, because you really wish to assert that BOTH are better.

- A.

P.S. Regarding "comer" as a noun, in the US we often say "He's a real comer!", meaning that he's agressively advancing in some sense. (It makes me think of a horserace!)
But this is quite different from the sense you want, which has to do with arriving.
There's also the expression, "He is coming on," which has two different meanings.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Hi Mister Micawber,

Thanks for your suggestions.

Regards,

Tinanam

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Avangi I think "Late commer" and "Late arrival" are best suited for memo subject line than "Late come".

Hi Avangi,

I was going to prepare to ask about this question. Thanks for correcting it.

Would you think my understanding of "He's coming on" be correct here?

- He's lagging behind, and he's stepping up faster or

- he's hurring up or he's or

- he's catching up

Thanks

Tinanam

Avangi · Answer

Yes, you have the idea.

"Lagging" is sort of a pejorative, so if we're praising him for picking up his pace, we wouldn't at the same time accuse him of lagging behind.
We could say, "He's in third place but he's coming on/up fast."
OR "He's still behind, but etc."

"He's catching up" is good.

"He's hurring up" is a bit uncommon, and it doesn't necessarily mean he's gaining ground. Others may be "hurring up" as well. The imperative command "Hurry up!" is very common, but of course doesn't imply that someone is overtaking the lead.

Tinanam0102 · Answer

Avangi
We could say, "He's in third place but he's coming on/up fast."

Hi Avangi,

I'd like to check my understanding of this sentence. Do you mean,

- He's coming on fast. And

- He's coming up fast ?

Thanks

Tinanam

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