To come to pass

Question

To come to pass.Used of times, seasons, or scheduled events: When April comes around, we'll work in the garden again. The World Series is coming around soon.I saw the above in one of the online dictionaries.Come to pass was given as a definition of "come around"I think they both mean "to happen" butI didn't get "come to pass". What sort of structure is this- verb plus infinitive?I understand the meaning of "to come" but unable to get the idea of using "to pass" in that phrase

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

JigneshbharatiI think they both mean "to happen"

Correct.

JigneshbharatiWhat sort of structure is this- verb plus infinitive?
I understand the meaning of "to come" but I'm unable to get the idea of using "to pass" in that phrase

Yes. It's an idiom. One of the properties of idioms is that the meaning of the whole idiom cannot be understood by knowing the meaning of the words that compose it. The combination of words gives a meaning which is different from the meanings of its component words. Therefore, it may be better just to learn 'come to pass' as a unit that means 'happen' and not worry about the separate words.

That said, 'come to' suggests the initiation of an event, the moment it begins to happen. We have the following combinations in English:

come to know, come to see, come to think, come to believe, come to have

They can be paraphrased in various ways, sometimes with the verbs 'start' or 'begin'.

Mr Thompson came to believe that he had been cheated.
~ He started to believe that ....

In her 40s she came to have nightmares about her daughter.
~ In her 40s she began to have ...

Olga eventually came to know that the police were spying on her.
~ Olga eventually found out that ...

'pass' alone can be used to mean 'happen', so 'come to pass' suggests the start of something happening.

Thus, you can make approximate equivalences as follows:

When April comes around ~ When April comes to pass ~ When April starts to happen

CJ

To come to pass

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