The Phrasal Verb 'Come About' Explained
- 33 minutes ago
- 6 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'come about' from a native speaker, with lots of examples in context
Hello and welcome to my website for English learners all about phrasal verbs where I explain their different meanings to help you understand, learn and use them like a native.
This article is all about the English phrasal verb 'come about'. Have you ever heard of this one before? It is likely that you may not have done as this one is a rarer phrasal verb and it only has two main meanings. In this post, I will explain how you can use it to talk about different things including events, accidents and boats and how it can elevate your English and separate you from other English learners. As per usual, I will give you lots of example sentences to show you how to use each application. So, let's make a start and learn what 'come about' means....
QUICK ANSWER: What does the phrasal verb 'come about' mean?The phrasal verb 'come about' has two main meanings:
Keep reading to learn more about how to use each one! |
TABLE OF CONTENTS (Click to jump to each one)
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THE BASICS
COME ABOUT: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Medium |
Number of meanings | 2 |
Past tense forms | Came about / Come about |
Separable? | No |
The phrasal verb 'come about' is made up of two really common words in English: the verb 'to come' and the particle 'about'. What exactly do these two words mean on their own and what do they add to the phrasal verbs that they form?
Come - The verb 'to come' is an extremely common verb of movement in English that functions as the natural opposite of the verb 'to go'. We usually use the verb 'to come' to talk about a movement towards where the speaker is, was or will be. In addition to this, we can also use the verb 'to come' to mean 'to arrive' or 'to reach', 'to originate' and 'to happen' and all of these will feature to some degree in the meanings of the phrasal verb 'come about' that we will look at shortly. Don't forget that 'to come' is irregular and when it is found in phrasal verbs they are typically not separable.
My parents are coming to my house later.
When you come, can you bring me some milk.
What time did you come to the party?
My wife comes from Scotland.
Monday comes before Tuesday.
The news came as a shock.
About - The prepositional particle 'about' is one that is found more rarely in phrasal verbs than some other particles. When it is used in phrasal verbs, it can add different ideas including wasting time (mess about), physical rotation (turn about), exploration (look about) and causing something to happen (bring about), among other meanings.
So, now that we have covered the basics, let's take a look at the different meanings of the phrasal verb 'come about'....
MEANING 1: To happen
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To happen, to occur |
Separable? | No |
The first of the two meanings of the phrasal verb 'come about' is by far the most common and means 'to happen' or 'to occur'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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I think that most of you would agree that life is rarely boring and there are things that are constantly happening, both good and bad, that keep things interesting. Consequently, the verbs 'to happen' and 'to occur' are probably words in your active vocabulary that you use all the time, however did you know that you can also use the phrasal verb 'come about' to mean the same thing?!
If not, then I can confirm that you absolutely can use it to talk about things that happen or occur in life. Usually, we use this application of 'come about' to discuss or enquire what caused a situation to happen. Moreover, we can also use it to ask how or when something occurred or developed.
For example, if you take a look at the picture above with the tree that has fallen on the car, it is possible that a native speaker would ask "how did this situation come about?" or in other words what caused the tree to end up on top of the car.
You should know that speakers typically form this application in the following ways.....
How did ________ come about?
_______ came about because of / due to / when
Come about + adverb
See the examples of these below....
How did this mistake come about?
How on Earth did this come about? You were supposed to be watching the children!
Nobody is really sure how the accident came about.
The opportunity to work abroad came about unexpectedly.
The change in policy came about due to a change in government guidelines.
A friendship between the two neighbours came about quite naturally.
The problem came about because nobody checked the figures carefully.
The couple's decision to move to Scotland came about after a holiday there last year.
The misunderstanding came about when one of the emails was accidentally deleted.
The idea for the new project came about during a discussion in a team meeting.
Many important discoveries have come about by chance.
Another slightly more formal way to use this application of 'come about' to give a reason for why a situation happened is to use the expression 'it came about that.....'.
It came about that we had to cancel the meeting because several key people were unavailable.
It came about that nobody in the business knew the answer, so we had to consult an expert.
It came about that they became business partners after working together on a small project.
It came about that the documents were sent to the wrong address.
To conclude, most advanced English learners at your level are likely to know 'to happen' and 'to occur', however if you want to really set yourself apart and sound more like a native, then start using 'come about' as well 😀
MEANING 2: To change direction (boats)
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Rare |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To turn |
Separable? | No |
The second and final application of 'come about' that we will cover in this post is one that is used specifically in the nautical world, or in other words boats and ships, and means to 'change direction'.
Note that this is only used in reference to smaller boats and yachts that rely on wind and sails to move and not an engine.
To clarify, if a boat comes about, it changes the direction that its bow (front part) faces. This is done in response to the direction of the wind and the aim of making a boat come about is to re-position it so that the wind changes from one side of it to the other. This is chiefly done to enable a boat to keep moving when a boat is sailing into the direction of the wind.
Interestingly, did you know that the reason that we use 'about' here and not 'around' is that in the past both of these words used to mean the same thing? While they are still sometimes interchangeable today, using 'about' to mean 'around' can often sound a little old-fashioned in modern English but it does still exist in expressions and phrasal verbs such as this!
The captain told the crew to come about and head back towards the harbour.
As the wind strengthened, the yacht came about and sailed towards the opposite shore.
The sailors prepared to come about before reaching the rocks.
The boat came about smoothly despite the rough conditions.
We needed to come about in order to avoid another vessel.
The skipper shouted, "Ready to come about!"
After coming about, the yacht picked up speed on the new tack.
The crew worked together quickly as the boat came about.
We have now reached the end of this post and I hope that you have found it useful and that it has helped you to understand how to use the phrasal verb 'come about' more confidently and naturally.
Feel free to leave any comments, feedback or your own sentences using 'come about' in the section below. Also, if you found the post useful, please like and share it on social media.
Want to understand native speakers more easily and use phrasal verbs more naturally? If yes, check out my downloadable phrasal verb workbooks, which include clear explanations, common learner mistakes, exercises, speaking practice and answer keys to help you master the phrasal verbs that native speakers use every day. Browse the workbooks here. |
Thanks so much for reading and see you next time! James 😊
THE END