I’m arguing with my girlfriend (we are not native English speakers), what is the proper form, go back home or come back home.
For example, consider two versions:
- I will go to the office and then go back home.
- I will go to the office and then come back home.
My girlfriend thinks the first version is wrong and only the second version is correct. I claim that both versions are correct and mean more or less the same, however the first version focuses more on the journey home itself, and the second one emphasizes the fact of reaching the destination (the home), but they can be used interchangeably as long as I want to express that I will go there
and back (visit that two particular locations).and then I will leave (e.g. I will leave the office and probably I will head home, but it’s not guaranteed that I will reach home or head home directly – I want to emphasize departure from the office rather that the arrival home).What it the native speakers’ take on that?
There are two similar questions:
"I want to come there" or "I want to go there"
But they touch the problem from slightly different angles.
Answer
Come home/Go home isn’t merely a style choice. The meaning is different. "Come home" communicate that you think the listener will be there and you’ve based plans on that. By default "go home" communicates the opposite. Choosing go in "then I’ll go home" might communicate that you remember they’re staying at their mom’s tonight. It would be normal to correct a wrong use: "I’ll go home after", "I’ll actually be home — remember my Yoga classes were cancelled this week?", "Ah, yes. I’m glad you’re an idiomatic English speaker and caught that distinction — I’ll change my plans accordingly".
If you overheard a friend calling his wife to say "this play is terrible, I’m going to go home", you’d assume his wife wasn’t home. You might suggest you two do something else. Whereas "…I’m coming home" means his wife is home, expecting him.
The normal meanings also suggest closeness. With a new roommate, "coming home" would be odd. It suggests you might do something together at home, with someone you barely know. Likewise "going home" to a spouse you know is home suggests your relationship has disintegrated to where no longer care where they are.
For going to other places, or in longer sentences, come/go has the same difference. Take "I’m going to the bowling alley, Pete’s Pizza, coming to your office, then going home". coming reinforces that the office visit is to see them, probably with the pizza. "going to your office, then coming home" communicates that you know they won’t be at the office — you have some other reason to go. But since you said "coming home", and not "going", you know to get pizza for 2. If relatives live in Florida, "we’ll go to Florida this August" suggest you don’t plan to visit them. If you’d used come but they were spending August in Toledo, they’d naturally correct you.
Coming/going to work is a small exception, but the same idea. You’d use "coming to work" with a boss or a co-worker who had a direct interest in you doing the work. Suppose you had 2 jobs. "I can come in at 3, but I have to go to my other job at 6" or "they want me to go in at noon, but I can probably come in here at 3". In this case we don’t care if the boss is there or not, but come still carries extra information — which workplace is special to the listener.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : ciechowoj , Answer Author : Owen Reynolds
