# EN: go/come and <verb> / go/come to-infinitive



## emilys

Shall I say " I went and saw U2" or "I went to see U2"?
Thank you for your reply.


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## b1947420

It depends on what actually happened.
"I went and saw U2" tells us that you have been and seen U2 perform.
"I went to see U2" tells us that you went to see U2 but we don't know whether you actually saw the performance or not.


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## Oddmania

Je suis d'accord. Pour moi, _I went and saw U2_ veut dire que tu es parti, et que, par la même occasion, tu as vu U2.

_I went to see U2_ voudrait dire que tu es parti dans le but de voir U2 (mais peut-être qu'il y a eu un accident ou un empechement qui t'as empêché de voir le groupe, qui sait ?).


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## jann

Purists may correct "went and saw" to "went to see."  They will admit that former is common, especially in speech... but they will assert that the latter is preferable, especially in writing.

They will point out the redundancy of using "went and saw" to mean "saw"... and they will argue that "went to see" does not imply that you may not have seen U2.  I am sure that this has been debated to death on the English Only forum...


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## Rocksong

Hello,

Why didn't you come visit us/Why didn't you come to visit us?

Which one is correct and why?



Thx


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## cropje_jnr

My understanding is that the "to" particle is omitted in American English but not in British English, but that this habit is creeping into all regional forms of English (Australian English is certainly not immune).

To further complicate matters, we also frequently say "why didn't you come *and* visit us".


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## Rocksong

So both are correct?


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## Natalie Mondor

I agree. In America we drop the "to", and we'd be more likely to say, "Why didn't you come and visit us."


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## fsm*

Rocksong said:


> So both are correct?



Hi Rocksong,
Your two original sentences are both considered correct, for the reasons that cropje_jnr explained. Also, as Natalie Mondor said, we Americans often use the word and in place of to in this type of sentence, but I believe that is a colloquialism and not considered correct.


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## Maître Capello

As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong):

_Why didn't you come *to* visit us?_ (standard)
_Why didn't you come *and* visit us?_ (colloquialism in both AmEn and BrEn, especially BrEn)
_Why didn't you come visit us?_ (AmEn colloquialism)


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## geostan

It may depend on the particular sentence. In these examples, I would generally use the second version. I'm not sure that it is colloquial anymore; it seems more natural.

In  the following examples, there is a difference in meaning.

They came to blow up the house. [They may not have succeeded.]
They came and blew up the house. (They did blow it up.]

The third version without *to *or *and* is not possible.


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## mcl357

In this example *to *has a different meaning, i.e. *in order to*  blow up the house.

In the original question, _coming _and _visiting _are interlinked, i.e. one  action,
whereas coming and blowing up the house are two separate actions.


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## geostan

If you use the structure of my examples, but the verbs of the original examples, you'll end up with the same analysis.

They came to visit us. 
They came and visited us.

Or if you use my verbs and the original structure,

Didn't they come to blow us up?
Didn't they come and blow us up?

I don't see that with either pair the same meaning exists.


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## Maître Capello

I must say I agree with Geostan: there is a small difference in meaning between _came *to* visit_ and _came *and* visited_…

_They came *to* visit us but we were on vacation._
_They came *and* visited us._ → They necessarily did.


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## mcl357

geostan said:


> Didn't they come to blow us up?
> Didn't they come and blow us up?



*Coming to blow up the house* and *coming to visit* aren't  comparable examples.

Coming to blow up involves _two separate _actions,
i.e. you come to the house
_then _you blow up the house;

Coming to visit involves _one _action (which is why people say "Why  didn't you come visit us?")

With respect to Rocksong's original question, there is no difference in  meaning, only differences in regional usage.  In BrEn:
They came to visit us but we were out,
They came to visit us (and did).


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## geostan

mcl357 said:


> Coming to visit involves _one _action (which is why *SOME* people say "Why  didn't you come visit us?")* I don't.*



I think you're making too much of the _separate_ actions. The point I was making with the examples I used is valid.


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## mcl357

Having experimented a bit by substituting different verbs, I think that  sometimes there is a difference of meaning between *coming and doing something *and  *coming to* *do something*, depending on the verbs chosen, especially when put in  the format "Why didn't you...?"

However, it still stands that, as used in the *original question*,  the difference is not in _meaning_ but in _regional usage._


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## noemiedbs

Bonjour,

j'ai un doute quant à la construction en anglais de l'expression française "aller faire quelque chose".

Peut-on dire : "and then, I'll go to visit Hollywood" / "...I'll go and visit Hollywood"
ou tout simplement, "I'll visit Hollywood"

J'ai mis cet exemple mais je ne bloque pas pour cette phrase en particulier, mais vis à vis de la construction après "go". 
Merci pour vos réponse.

Cordialement,


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## Nunou

Je crois que l'expression française "aller faire quelque chose" se traduit avec "going to do something"
Donc: J'm going to visit Hollywood.

Conjugaison du futur en anglais:
http://www.anglais-gratuit.com/leco...n-verbes-temps/futur/precisions-avance-f.html

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-1-going-to

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/future-1-will


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## Enquiring Mind

You can say all three.  I'll *go and* visit Hollywood is less formal than the other two.  
*
Go and* can be used in all tenses.  
I'll *go and* get/have my hair done next week.  I *went and* got/had my hair done.  I wish you'd told me we'd already got today's paper before I'd *gone and* bought another one.   If he'd called me an ugly so-and-so I would have *gone and* punched him.
*Go and* (come and, stay and, be sure and, try and) can be used in the imperative for suggestions or instructions:
Go and brush your teeth! Come and keep me company! Stay and have lunch!  Be sure and/to catch the right bus! Try and/to remember your umbrella!

[Abridged from _Practical English Usage_, Michael Swan, OUP, § 52, -1, -2 (viewable online)]


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## Nunou

Hi Enquiring Mind,

I'm not sure we can use *Go and *because  "aller faire quelque chose" it doesn't mean you have "to go somewhere to do something", it means you have decided to do something in the very next or next future. That's it. 

If I say "je vais boire du thé" it means I decided to have some tea and I'm going to drink it (now / later / this afternoon / this evening / tomorrow etc.) 
To have it, I don't necessarily need to go out or in my kitchen and/or anywhere else.....

I hope you understand.


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## Enquiring Mind

Nunou said:


> you have decided to do something in the very next or next future.


Yes, that is, indeed, the meaning of _*go and*_, Nunou. 
Tomorrow I'll go and get my hair cut, then on Saturday I'll go and get the car cleaned, on Sunday we'll go and have lunch at the pub.
Now, I'll go and hit the sack! Goodnight.


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## Nunou

O.K. Enquiring Mind, 
I assume this is the meaning of *go and *but.... what about 

Demain je vais aller à Paris
Tu vas me manquer 
Je vais y réfléchir
Elle va essayer de mieux comprendre

I'm still not sure we can always use *go and. *Thank you for your help.


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## Enquiring Mind

Hmm, don't forget that the OP asked if "and then, I'll go to visit Hollywood" / "...I'll go and visit Hollywood", is possible. Yes, they are. In fact, the second is more idiomatic and more natural than the first.  
I'm not suggesting "go and ..." is appropriate for "aller faire" in every case - far from it, because in most cases, "aller faire" is just a future tense.  "Go and..." is actually very restricted in its use.

Demain je vais aller à Paris. Tomorrow I'm going to Paris, (so I'll go and visit the ....)  
Tu vas me manquer.  I'm going to miss you, I'll miss you.  
Je vais y réfléchir.  I'll think about it, (but also _I'll go and think about it_.)
Elle va essayer de mieux comprendre. She's going to try to understand things better.

In short, "go and..." is an idiomatic usage for particular contexts, it's not an equivalent of "aller faire".


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