Go vs. Come – English Grammar Exercises for A1
You are chatting online with a friend who lives in another city. You are telling them about your daily morning routine and how you travel from your home to your school or workplace.
Choose the best word (A, B, C, or D) to complete the sentences.
1 Every morning, I wake up at 7 AM, eat breakfast, and ______ to school.
(A) arrive
(B) come
(C) going
(D) go
2 My father finishes his coffee quickly, and then he ______ to the office.
(A) go
(B) comes
(C) goes
(D) to go
3 I usually grab my heavy backpack and ______ to the bus stop at 7:30 AM.
(A) go
(B) come
(C) going
(D) to go
4 My sister and I ______ to the university by train every single day.
(A) comes
(B) go
(C) come
(D) goes
5 After I wake up, the first thing I do is ______ to the bathroom to brush my teeth.
(A) come
(B) to go
(C) go
(D) coming
6 I don’t ______ to work by car because the morning traffic is always terrible.
(A) go
(B) come
(C) goes
(D) moving
7 What time do you usually ______ to school in your country?
(A) comes
(B) to go
(C) come
(D) go
8 Tomorrow is Sunday, so I don’t need to ______ to the office!
(A) go
(B) come
(C) going
(D) goes
9 My mother always ______ to the bakery to buy fresh bread before she drives to work.
(A) goes
(B) comes
(C) go
(D) going
10 If it rains heavily tomorrow morning, I will take a taxi to ______ to the university.
(A) come
(B) go
(C) going
(D) to go
11 I am drinking my coffee right now. In ten minutes, I will ______ to my workplace.
(A) go
(B) come
(C) going
(D) to come
12 My brother usually ______ to the gym for a quick workout before he starts his workday.
(A) goes
(B) comes
(C) go
(D) going
13 Let me finish this sandwich quickly, and then I must ______ to the train station.
(A) come
(B) to go
(C) go
(D) coming
14 We never ______ to school on weekends; we just stay at home and relax.
(A) coming
(B) come
(C) go
(D) goes
15 Yesterday, I was very sick, so I didn’t ______ to the office.
(A) went
(B) go
(C) come
(D) going
16 I can’t chat for long. I am putting on my shoes because I am ______ to the bus stop right now.
(A) coming
(B) go
(C) going
(D) leaving
17 As soon as my alarm rings, I quickly get out of bed and ______ downstairs to the kitchen.
(A) come
(B) going
(C) goes
(D) go
18 You should ______ to sleep earlier at night so you won’t be late for your morning classes.
(A) come
(B) go
(C) going
(D) to go
19 Every Monday morning, I have to ______ to a different branch of the company across the city.
(A) coming
(B) come
(C) go
(D) goes
20 I just texted my boss that I will be late. Anyway, I am ______ to the office now, talk to you later!
(A) coming
(B) going
(C) go
(D) to go
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (D) go
Why it is correct: You are moving away from your current location (home) to a third location (school) where the listener (your online friend) is not located. Therefore, you must use “go”.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is a Common Mistake (students translate “đến trường” directly to “come to school”, ignoring the speaker’s location). (C) “going” is a Structural Error. (A) “arrive” is a Strong Distractor (incorrect grammar, as “arrive” pairs with “at/in”, not “to”).
2 (C) goes
Why it is correct: “My father” is a third-person singular subject, so the verb “go” becomes “goes”. He is moving away to a third location (the office).
Mistake Analysis: (B) “comes” is the Common Mistake. (A) “go” is a Structural Error (missing the ‘es’). (D) “to go” is a Structural Error.
3 (A) go
Why it is correct: Moving from home to the bus stop (a place away from both you and your friend) requires “go”.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (C) “going” is a Structural Error. (D) “to go” is a Structural Error.
4 (B) go
Why it is correct: The subject “My sister and I” is plural (we), so the verb is “go”. The movement is to a third location.
Mistake Analysis: (C) “come” is the Common Mistake. (D) “goes” is a Structural Error (wrong subject-verb agreement). (A) “comes” is a Structural Error.
5 (C) go
Why it is correct: You are in your bedroom and moving to the bathroom. Since the listener is not in the bathroom, you are moving away to another location, so you use “go”.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “come” is the Common Mistake. (B) “to go” is a Structural Error (after “do is”, we use the bare infinitive in this specific structure). (D) “coming” is a Structural Error.
6 (A) go
Why it is correct: The sentence is in the present simple negative (“don’t go”).
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (C) “goes” is a Structural Error (after “don’t”, we need the base verb). (D) “moving” is a Strong Distractor (you can “move”, but “moving to work” implies changing your house to live at your job, which changes the meaning entirely).
7 (D) go
Why it is correct: Asking about someone else’s routine of traveling to a third location.
Mistake Analysis: (C) “come” is the Common Mistake. (A) “comes” is a Structural Error. (B) “to go” is a Structural Error.
8 (A) go
Why it is correct: Following “need to”, we use the base verb “go” to describe traveling to the office.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (D) “goes” is a Structural Error (cannot use ‘es’ after ‘to’). (C) “going” is a Structural Error.
9 (A) goes
Why it is correct: Third-person singular (My mother). She travels to a third location (the bakery).
Mistake Analysis: (B) “comes” is the Common Mistake. (C) “go” is a Structural Error. (D) “going” is a Structural Error.
10 (B) go
Why it is correct: After the preposition “to” (in order to), we use the base verb “go” for movement away from home.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “come” is the Common Mistake. (C) “going” is a Structural Error. (D) “to go” is a Structural Error (results in “to to go”).
11 (A) go
Why it is correct: “Will” is followed by the base verb “go”. You are traveling to a workplace where the listener is not present.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (C) “going” is a Structural Error. (D) “to come” is a Structural Error.
12 (A) goes
Why it is correct: Third-person singular for a daily habit. Movement to a third location (the gym).
Mistake Analysis: (B) “comes” is the Common Mistake. (C) “go” is a Structural Error. (D) “going” is a Structural Error.
13 (C) go
Why it is correct: After the modal verb “must”, we use the base verb “go”.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “come” is the Common Mistake. (B) “to go” is a Structural Error (we do not use ‘to’ after ‘must’). (D) “coming” is a Structural Error.
14 (C) go
Why it is correct: Plural subject “We” talking about a habit of traveling away from home.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (D) “goes” is a Structural Error. (A) “coming” is a Structural Error.
15 (B) go
Why it is correct: After the negative past auxiliary “didn’t”, the verb must be in its base form (“go”).
Mistake Analysis: (C) “come” is the Common Mistake. (A) “went” is a Structural Error (double past tense error, very common for beginners). (D) “going” is a Structural Error.
16 (C) going
Why it is correct: Present continuous tense (“am going”) indicates an action happening right now. Movement is to a third location.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “coming” is the Common Mistake. (B) “go” is a Structural Error. (D) “leaving” is a Strong Distractor (we say “leaving FOR the bus stop”, not “leaving TO”).
17 (D) go
Why it is correct: You are moving from the bedroom to the kitchen (downstairs). Since the listener is an online friend, you use “go” for moving to a different room.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “come” is the Common Mistake. (B) “going” is a Structural Error. (C) “goes” is a Structural Error.
18 (B) go
Why it is correct: “Go to sleep” is a fixed phrase, and it implies moving away from an active state/place to bed.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “come” is the Common Mistake. (D) “to go” is a Structural Error (after modal “should”). (C) “going” is a Structural Error.
19 (C) go
Why it is correct: After “have to”, use the base verb “go” to describe traveling to a third location.
Mistake Analysis: (B) “come” is the Common Mistake. (D) “goes” is a Structural Error. (A) “coming” is a Structural Error.
20 (B) going
Why it is correct: Present continuous tense. Even though you told your boss you are coming (because the boss is at the office), when you report this action to your online friend, the office is a third location away from both of you. Therefore, you must use “going”.
Mistake Analysis: (A) “coming” is the Common Mistake (students confuse who the listener is in this exact moment). (C) “go” is a Structural Error. (D) “to go” is a Structural Error.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- The Core Rule: The choice between “go” and “come” depends entirely on the location of the speaker and the listener.
- Use GO (Moving Away): When you are moving from your current location to a completely different place (a third location), and the person you are talking to is NOT at that destination, you must use GO.
- Example: When talking to an online friend, you say: “I go to school at 7 AM.” (Because your friend is not at your school).
- The Common Mistake: In many languages, people say “đến trường” (arrive/come to school) when talking about their morning routine. Do not translate this directly! In English, if you are at home leaving for school, you are “going” to school.
- When to use COME (Moving Towards): You only use “come” if you are moving towards the person you are speaking to, or if you are asking someone to move towards you.