Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Teo]

Some of the following sentences are correct and some are incorrect. Mark each correct sentence.

1. "Please come to my house, Betty," said John.

2. "Can I go to your house, Betty," asked John.

3. "Can I come to your house, Betty," asked John.

4. "How about going to the party at Tom's, Betty?" said John.

5. "How about coming to the party at Tom's, Betty?" said John.
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[alan.es]

You also need to know where John is at the time of asking these questions to give a definite answer.

assuming John is at home and Betty is also there, I think these are the answers expected : 1,2, and 4 are correct ; 3 and 5 are incorrect.

Which verb is correct depends upon the position of the speaker and the movement expected.




In any other locations it can be very confusing:

In other locations probably 1 and 4 are always correct.

No. 5 would normally be incorrect unless John was phoning from the party to ask her to come.

If John was at Betty's house, no. 3 would be correct and no. 2 would be incorrect according to the rules .

[Teo]

According to the key, 1, 3, 4, 5 are correct. 2 is incorrect.

When the speaker or the listener visits the other, come should be used as in 1 and 3; 2 is out because go is used. When the speaker and/or the listener visits a third person, go is generally used as in 4. However, if both of them visit a place that they both consider to be the focus of attention of their conversation, come is to be used as in 5.
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[alan.es]

All 5 can be correct or incorrect depending upon the situation and locations of listener and speaker.

I tried to give as simple an answer as possible assuming you didn't know the answer.

[Teo]

I already know the answer but I doubt its correctness.
Thank you very much for your help!
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Thank you very much for your reply.