Came across well at the interview

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AlexAD

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Hello,

This is an example sentence I got from the OALD,

'She comes across well in interviews'.

Can I use this pattern as follows,

'She came across well at the interview'?

Thanks

Alex.
 
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Chicken Sandwich

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emsr2d2

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"At" works fine in BrE.

I always come across well at interviews.
He came across well at interview.
They come across well at interviews.
Did she come across well at her interview?
 

Chicken Sandwich

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"At" works fine in BrE.

I always come across well at interviews.
He came across well at interview.
They come across well at interviews.
Did she come across well at her interview?

But would you also say 'She came across well at the interview'? I ask this because you don't use either "the" or "an" before "interview(s)" in your examples.
 

bhaisahab

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But would you also say 'She came across well at the interview'? I ask this because you don't use either "the" or "an" before "interview(s)" in your examples.

Yes, that's fine.
 

emsr2d2

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I didn't omit an example with "the" on purpose. As bhaisahab said, it would still be fine.

I thought she came across very well at the interview.
 

Chicken Sandwich

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:up: Thanks for pointing this out. I googled "came across well at interview" and it appears to be used only by speakers of BrE (and also some speakers of AusE). I really didn't know that one could say this :oops:.
 

emsr2d2

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We tend to use it when we're not talking about a specific interview. For example, let's assume that I am due to have a job interview next Tuesday. One of my friends might say to me today "Good luck on Tuesday. How do you usually do at interview?" This is a general question. On Wednesday, my friend would say "How did you do at the interview yesterday?"
 

AlexAD

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emsr2d2, when you wrote 'He came across well at interview' you didn't mean a specific interview in the past, did you?
Then you must have meant interview as general type, right? Could you please explain it a bit further?

Thanks

Alex.



 

emsr2d2

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emsr2d2, when you wrote 'He came across well at interview' you didn't mean a specific interview in the past, did you?
Then you must have meant interview as general type, right? Could you please explain it a bit further?

Thanks

Alex.

English is great, isn't it?! Actually, in the phrase "He came across well at interview" I actually did mean a specific interview. In that particular case, the sentence is fine with or without the article.

If two bosses were having a discussion about a job applicant who they interviewed a couple of days ago, they could say either "He came across well at interview" or "He came across well at the interview" and they would mean exactly the same thing.

The fact that both people in the conversation know which interview is being discussed helps but it actually wouldn't matter if one of them didn't.

One of those bosses could go home to his wife (or her husband!) that evening and say "I met a great guy today. He applied for the Sales Manager position and he came across really well at interview".

Someone who wasn't even involved in the interview process but had heard a rumour would be able to say "I saw an incredibly tall man in the office today. He must have been over 7 feet tall. He was there for the Sales Manager job and I hear he came across really well at interview".
 

AlexAD

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Great explanation, thanks :up:

Yes, English is great, indeed :)

Then I believe it is one of these cases where the definite article may be omitted but still the sentence has the meaning as if it is present.
 

emsr2d2

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Great explanation, thanks :up:

Yes, English is great, indeed :)

Then I believe it is one of these cases where the definite article may be omitted but still the sentence has the meaning as if it is present.

I'm not sure what you mean by "has the meaning as if it is present". The tense has nothing to do with. You can use "at interview" or "at the interview" in many different contexts and timeframes.
 
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