Come loose.

[Ashraful Haque]

I recently learned what 'come off' means and came across 'come loose' but couldn't find a lot about it on the internet. Since 'come off' means to detach from/ fall off/ or drop off something, naturally 'come loose' should mean 'to become loose.'

Are the following sentences correct:

1) "I think one of the wheels came loose." - Can I say this while driving my car? I'm not sure about this since 'came' is in past tense.

2) "Hold the baby my belt is coming loose." - Can I use continuous tense like this?

 

[Tdol]

Possibly, but neither seems very natural to me. A tap/faucet may come loose.

 

[GoesStation]

"Come loose" works for me in the two sample sentences.

 

[SoothingDave]

There is some ambiguity in "come loose." It can simply mean that it is not tight or it can mean that it is so loose that it has detached itself.

 

[GoesStation]

There is some ambiguity in "come loose." It can simply mean that it is not tight or it can mean that it is so loose that it has detached itself.

With the continuous, it's getting looser. With the past simple, it became loose. I agree about the ambiguity: we don't know whether it came off or not.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

With the continuous, it's getting looser. With the past simple, it became loose. I agree about the ambiguity: we don't know whether it came off or not.

1) "I think one of the wheels came loose."


2) "Hold the baby my belt is coming loose."

So 1 means that one of the tires has already come loose. And 2 means that it's in the process of coming loose maybe it'll if someone doesn't hold the baby and let me tighten it.

 

[Tdol]

Do belts drop off naturally?

 

[Tarheel]

Do belts drop off naturally?

Not usually.

 

[Tdol]

That might be an issue with the second sentence.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

[video]https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/5d1eab3c-916d-4eb7-91dd-bbfc8918e035[/video]

This is actually what I wanted to write but I figured it wouldn't make sense. It's the Simpsons after all :lol:
So I just replaced 'rope' with 'belt.'

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I recently learned what 'come off' means and came across 'come loose' but couldn't find a lot about it on the internet. Since 'come off' means to detach from/ fall off/ or drop off something, naturally 'come loose' should mean 'to become loose.'

Yes.

Are the following sentences correct:

1) "I think one of the wheels is coming loose." - Can I say this while driving my car?

If it came loose, you wouldn't think, you'd know. Believe me. I've done it.

I'm not sure about this since 'came' is in past tense.

2) "Hold the baby. My belt is coming loose." - Can I use continuous tense like this?

You can if you put a comma after baby, but I'd make it two sentences.

If it comes off, it's because it came loose. If it's coming loose, it hasn't come off yet.

Good question!

 

[Tdol]

[video]https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/5d1eab3c-916d-4eb7-91dd-bbfc8918e035[/video]

This is actually what I wanted to write but I figured it wouldn't make sense. It's the Simpsons after all :lol:
So I just replaced 'rope' with 'belt.'

Well, if it's the Simpsons, the rules of nature and science do not apply. The belt can drop off. However, here it came undone rather than dropping off. :up:

 

[Ashraful Haque]

I was working out at the gym and noticed that a bolt came loose. I said to one of the staff:
"Excuse me I think a bolt on the legs machine has come loose."

Is the sentence correct?

 

[GoesStation]

View attachment 3629

I was working out at the gym and noticed that a bolt came loose. I said to one of the staff:
"Excuse me I think a bolt on the legs machine has come loose."

Is the sentence correct?

Almost. It's two sentences as written (or should be anyway); inserting a conjunction could make it a grammatical single sentence.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Almost. It's two sentences as written (or should be anyway); inserting a conjunction could make it a grammatical single sentence.

I see. So it should be "Excuse me; I think a bolt on the legs machine has come loose."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I see. So it should be "Excuse me. I think a bolt on the legs machine has come loose."

I'd use a period. A comma would be okay, too. There's no reason to use a semicolon.