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[rice07]

Hi

...

At the same time, with the US presidential approaching, the feeling has grown that actions that could potentially inflame US-China tensions, such as arms sales, are better left to the new US administration that will occupy the White House come January.

...

The above is an excerption from a report talking about " US decision made last Christmas ".

Here're my analyses to that:

1. " the feeling has grown " is the main clause of the sentence.

2." that could potentially inflame US-China tensions ", an identifying relative clause, refers to " actions ".

3. " that will occupy the White House ", an identifying relative clause, refers to " the new US administration ".

4. " that actions ..., are better ...", is a compound noun clause.(subject= actions, verb=are)

5. This point is the core of my questions( I find the structure for this case is quite strange.):

5-1: Is come an infinitive or a past participle in this case?

5-2:=> infinitive: Which noun in the content is its subject?

Whether " occupy the White House " and " come January " share a " that will " to refer to " the new US administration "? So, it should be " the new US administration that will occupy the White House ( that will ) come January". If so, this, due to my limited reading, is the first time that I've read this kind of structure.



5-3: => past participle( doing the function of an adjective): Which noun in the content does it(come January) refer to?

5-4: => It is an incorrect structure.

Thanks for your help!

[nicewitch]

Hello !

Good analyse of the phrase but here to my understanding "come" is used as an adverb, for instance "next".

So it could be writed like: The Us administration that will occupy the White House next January.

It also could be read as : That will occupe the white House in January.

The mean is that they will occupy the white house when January will be there so when January (will be) come.

The meaning is so the "comming January" ot January to come. Once January come.

I've seen some phrases in journalistic language and I suppose it is correct.

What do you think?


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[rice07]

[Lorikeet]

Whew, I looked at dictionary.com, and eventually, all I could find was "Come is used colloquially, with reference to a definite future time approaching, without an auxiliary; as, it will be two years, come next Christmas"

I understand what that form is, but I would never use it.

[rice07]

[nicewitch]

Hello again !
Of course come is not an adverb unless it is used colloquially and I think there are better ways to make this sentence that using come but some people likes to make it hard instead of easy and they don't think about readers when they write.
Especially for me that I'm french is not allways easy so I try to understand the whole sentence in order to give a sense.
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[CP]

This question has come up before here. This type of expression is used in sentences such as:

It's warm now, but come fall, it'll be quite chilly. Means, when the fall comes.

Come Monday, if you don't have the rent, you'd better be ready to move out. Means, when Monday arrives.

I'll get that job come H-ell or high water. Means, no matter what should happen, whether H-ell (fire) or high water (flood) or anything else.

You'll see plenty of people getting married come this summer. Means, when this summer comes.
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[rice07]

Hi CP

I suppose I've got the point of the usages for ' come ' in that case, like Lorikeet's quote from dictionary.com meaning ' a definite future time approaching '.

Your reply to my request for that, comes as a godsend. It's extremely nice of you to offer me those good examples for ' come '. I can never thank you enough, indeed.

As for this case, ' come ', I won't be able to find a proper definition in those ordinary dictionaries(even mine are the advanced learner's ones) to fit the context in the report above fine. Some questions, without your help, won't be that easy to be figured out. Fortunately, with having plenty of nice teachers like you here, we English learners have the opportunity to share this top-notch consultative forum where it makes the interaction between teachers and learners convenient, with the result that the incomprehensible that the learners are encountering can be effectively and efficiently solved.

Different culture makes different background, but, no difference, the same way for people over the world to express their appreciation is- " Thank you! "

Good day

BTW, hope, next time, if not too trouble, when teachers find that if there're any mistakes exsiting in the content of the post I wrote, please correct me. That'll promote my ability in naturally and correctly using English. Thanks!

Sincerely

rice07

[lotus]

Hi Rice07,

"Come what may" and "Come January" are fixed subjunctive adverbial phrases in archaic form (although "Come January" is quite common) which express supposition, hypothesis or conjecture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood#Set_phrases


--lotus
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[nicewitch]

Hello!

I think rice07 is right, in all cultures there is a word to express gratitude that we forget often.

I'm not very good at english, I'm french and I also speak spanish, here I'm learning a lot even if I continue to make errors.

So thank you to you all
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