Feb 13, 2009 12:13
15 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term
Pattern: Come + ing form of the verb + adv (e.g. down)
Non-PRO
English
Other
Linguistics
English usages
(Depeche Mode) ... words come crashing in ...
(Style Council) walls come tumbling down...
I assume the phrasals here are "come down" and "come in", and that "crash" and "tumble" describe the mode in which the actions took place; for "ing", well, they sort of highlight an idea that the events developed by the mentioned means until their conclusion. Am I right in my opinion? Does any dictionary explain this? Is this real standard English? More examples?
(Style Council) walls come tumbling down...
I assume the phrasals here are "come down" and "come in", and that "crash" and "tumble" describe the mode in which the actions took place; for "ing", well, they sort of highlight an idea that the events developed by the mentioned means until their conclusion. Am I right in my opinion? Does any dictionary explain this? Is this real standard English? More examples?
Responses
| 3 +9 | Yes, standard English |
Armorel Young
|
Responses
+9
29 mins
Selected
Yes, standard English
I can't answer all the interesting points you raise, but I can confirm that (certainly to me as a BE speaker) this construction is entirely standard and acceptable English.
A few more examples:
After the fire, offers of help came pouring in.
During the storm the water came flooding in.
It seems to me (although I can't back this up from any grammar book) that the basic verb is, for example,"pour in", because we could easily say "After the fire, offers of help poured in", but by expanding it with the "come" construction ("came pouring in") we emphasise the strength of the event and the fact that it continues over a period of time. "The walls came tumbling down" is more vivid and exciting than the rather bald "The walls tumbled down".
A few more examples:
After the fire, offers of help came pouring in.
During the storm the water came flooding in.
It seems to me (although I can't back this up from any grammar book) that the basic verb is, for example,"pour in", because we could easily say "After the fire, offers of help poured in", but by expanding it with the "come" construction ("came pouring in") we emphasise the strength of the event and the fact that it continues over a period of time. "The walls came tumbling down" is more vivid and exciting than the rather bald "The walls tumbled down".
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
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