Come vs Go — Direction of Movement

Come and go both describe movement, but in opposite directions relative to the speaker. Come means to move towards the speaker or towards the place being discussed: "Come here," "She's coming to the party" (towards us). Go means to move away from the speaker or towards a different place: "Go there," "He's going to the shops" (away from here). The rule is similar to bring and take — come and bring move towards, while go and take move away.

A common source of confusion is responding to invitations. When someone invites you and you accept, use "come" even though you are moving away from your current location — because you are moving towards the other person: "I'm coming to your party tomorrow" (towards the host). This also applies on the phone: "I'm coming!" means "I'm on my way to where you are." Another useful pattern: "come back" means to return to where the speaker is — "Come back before dinner." "Go back" means to return to a place that is not where the speaker is — "I need to go back to the office." These directional patterns are tested in Cambridge A2 and B1 examinations.