The Phrasal Verb 'Come Along' Explained
- Phrasal Verbs Explained
- 5 days ago
- 9 min read
An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'come along' 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.
Are you familiar with the phrasal verb 'come along'? It may be the first time that you have ever seen it or it may be one that you use regularly in one way but don't know all of its applications. In this post, I will explain the different ways in which we use it in English, from making progress to accompanying someone to a place, and will give you lots of example sentences to show you the types of contexts in which it is used. So, without further ado, let's get started....
TABLE OF CONTENTSÂ (Click to jump to each one)
The Basics: Key information and the individual words 'come' and 'along'
Meaning 1: To accompany someone somewhere
Meaning 2: To appear or arrive
Meaning 3: To hurry up 🇬🇧
Meaning 4: To make progress
Bonus: The noun 'come-along'
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THE BASICS
COME ALONG: KEY INFORMATION
Usage | Come Along |
Number of meanings | 4 |
Past tense forms | Came along / Come along |
Separable? | No |
The phrasal verb 'come along' is formed with the verb 'to come' and the prepositional particle 'along' and so before we start the phrasal verb meanings, let's quickly look at what these individual words mean on their own.
If you are capable of reading this post, then you will definitely know the verb 'to come' because it is one of the most common verbs in English. 'To come' is first and foremost a verb of movement and we use it to refer to moving or travelling towards where the speaker is, will be or was, depending on the tense and context. Additionally, 'to come' has a variety of other meanings, which include 'to arrive', 'to originate' and 'to happen'. Like the majority of the most common English verbs, 'to come' is irregular.
Joan comes to see me every day.
Are you coming to the party tonight?
I can't come to work today as I am sick.
The train came on time.
Pierre comes from Marseille.
The prepositional particle 'along' is not as common as some of the others like 'up' and 'down' and consequently is not seen as much in phrasal verbs either. We typically use it to talk about movement in a line, which is on or next to something long, like at the side of a river or road. Alternatively, we can use it to specify a point somewhere on this line.
We walked along the boulevard holding hands.
Somewhere along this street is my old house.
So, now we have looked at the basics and established that both words often indicate a movement of some sort, so let's now see if this idea of moving is carried across into the phrasal verb meanings....
MEANING 1: To accompany someone somewhere
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To join, to accompany, to go along, to go with |
Separable? | No |
Let's begin our exploration of the meanings of the phrasal verb 'come along' with a nice and friendly one, which is 'to accompany someone to go somewhere'.
For this first application, let's imagine that you are planning to go to the cinema tonight with friends. Another friend phones you and says that she is free this evening, so you ask her to 'come along' with you to the cinema. In other words, you invite her to join you.
You can use 'come along' in this way for any situation in which you invite someone to go to a place where you are also going. For reference, if you are not going to be there, then you would use 'go along' instead.
This is often used by native speakers as a way of gently encouraging someone to come with them somewhere. It feels more like you're offering the person the choice to come and it's perfectly fine if they decide not to, rather than strongly inviting them or pressuring them to accompany you (we all know people who do that).
We do not just use this application for invitations though and we can use it to state the fact that someone is coming with you somewhere. Normally, with these statements, it is understood that the person 'coming along' is not the organiser of the trip and was invited by the speaker.
We're going to the beach this afternoon; do you want to come along?
I'm heading to the shop; you can come along if you like.
Lisa came along with us to the concert last night.
Do you mind if my brother comes along to the party?
They asked if I wanted to come along on their road trip.
Pete didn’t want to come along at first, but we convinced him.
We’re going for a walk in the park. Come along!
Can I come along when you visit your grandmother?
My dog always comes along when I go hiking.
Nick came along for moral support during the interview.
MEANING 2: To arrive somewhere
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To arrive, to appear, to turn up, to show up. to materialise, to emerge, to occur |
Separable? | No |
This second application of 'come along' is perhaps the most commonly used one and means 'to arrive' or 'to appear', depending on the context.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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As you can see from the list above, the commonly used nouns with this application are very diverse, which is a reflection of the many situations in which we can use it.
Let's begin by thinking about what the literal combination of these two words means, which is 'to move along something towards where the speaker is'. The most obvious example of this is with a road, when a vehicle or a person moves along it in the direction of the speaker. From the speaker's perspective, they see the vehicle or person appear in the distance and then move towards them before arriving where they are (the vehicle or person may then stop or continue past the speaker further along the road but that is irrelevant).
As I waited by the river, a canal boat came along slowly.
Julian came along the beach toward us, waving.
I saw a figure coming along the street in the fog.
So far, we have considered this application from a literal perspective, however we also use it a lot in a metaphorical way to talk about when things appear or arrive in our life. Just like with buses and things travelling along a road towards us, this is reserved for things that we have no or little control over or when they come along.
Good examples of these would be nouns like 'job', 'opportunity' and 'chance' as these are things that seem to present themselves to us at random moments during the course of lives.
Alternatively, we can also use this for when things begin to exist, especially when they have a consequence on a specific situation.
I was waiting for the right job opportunity to come along.
A chance like this doesn’t come along every day.
A new singer came along who changed the music industry.
Eventually, a solution to the problem came along.
Jill was single for years until the perfect guy came along.
Just when I had given up hope, something better came along.
New technology has come along that makes this process faster.
A great investment opportunity came along, and I took it.
A couple of other nouns that I hear quite a lot with this application are 'baby' and 'children' as people often use it to talk about when people have a child or become parents, therefore marking a new stage in their lives. This is particularly so if the child is unplanned.
Everything changed when the baby came along.
My partner and I used to travel a lot, but that stopped as soon as the twins came along.
They were a happy couple and then little Owen came along.
I had just started my new job when our first child came along.
My life was very quiet until my grandchildren came along.
MEANING 3: To hurry up
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | British English |
Potential synonyms | To hurry, to hurry up, to come on, to pick up, to make haste, to rush |
Separable? | No |
The third application of 'come along' that we will consider in this post is a British English one that means 'to hurry up'.
Unlike the other applications of 'come along', this one is mainly used in the imperative form, i.e. to give someone an order or command. If you tell someone to "come along", you are just asking them to do something more quickly, often in an annoyed or irritated way.
Although this application is still in use today, I hear it being used less and less and it sounds a little old fashioned and formal to my ears. I can imagine that it is still used by members of the British royal family, however the majority of commoners like myself are far more likely to use 'hurry up' or 'come on' in these often stressful situations when you need to be quick.
Come along, we’re going to be late!
Come along now, the bus is about to leave.
Do come along; we haven’t got all day!
Come along, children, it’s time to go home.
Come along, or we’ll miss the beginning of the movie.
Alternatively, 'come along' can be used in this way to encourage or implore someone to try harder and make more of an effort. Again, this is not something that is particularly widespread in modern everyday British English but it is possible that you may hear it.
Come along now, you can do better than that!
Your handwriting is improving, but come along, try to keep the letters neater.
MEANING 4: To make progress
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Common |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To progress, to advance, to improve, to develop, to proceed |
Separable? | No |
Next, we have our fourth and final meaning of 'come along', which means 'to make progress' or alternatively 'to develop'.
Nouns commonly used with this application....
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We use this last application to talk about anything that we are working on or trying to improve over a period of time. This may be something physical, such as building work or a painting, or it may be something intellectual, such as learning a language. Either way, the key element of this is that we want to make progress in it over a certain period.
Another key point to note is that we only use this application for things that we do not consider finished and work is still being done to achieve the outcome that we want. For example, when we are learning a language we are not at a fluent level (the result that we are trying to achieve), we can use this 'come along' to say that we are making progress and out language level is improving. Moreover, if an author is writing a book, he or she wants to finish it and makes continuous progress towards this goal, during which time we can also use 'come along'.
Lastly, it is common practice among English native speakers to ask "How is XXXX coming along?" when enquiring about the progress of something. Typical responses to this often include adverbs such as 'well', 'nicely' and 'really' or sometimes do not need an adverb at all; just 'it is coming along' on its own can be used to say that you are making progress.
The project is really coming along — we should be finished by next week.
Your painting is coming along nicely!
How's your English learning going? It's coming along thanks!
The garden is coming along well now that spring has arrived.
She's coming along in her recovery better than expected.
My cooking skills have really come along over the past year.
The new product is coming along, but we still have a few bugs to fix.
Training was slow at first, but things are starting to come along.
The book is coming along — I’ve written five chapters so far.
How’s your plan for the event coming along? Very well thank you.
THE NOUN 'COME-ALONG'
Like many English phrasal verbs, 'come along' has a noun that derives from it. A 'come-along' is a device used for pulling or lifting objects (known as a winch) when there is limited space or access to be able to do so. Admittedly, I'm not a technical person at all and have never heard of one of these instruments before, however it is possible that you may come across or use one of these in your daily life, so I wanted to include it in case.
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