[Vocabulary] come over / come

[eggcracker]

A mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant.
The phrase "come over' put in bold, does it mean the same as "come"? Or, is there any difference in the sentence if "over" is deleted?

 

[emsr2d2]

A mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant.
The phrase "come over' put in bold, does it mean the same as "come"? Or, is there any difference in the sentence if "over" is deleted?

Do you think "A mysterious, terrible change had come the elephant" makes sense? If so, what do you think it means?

 

[BrunaBC]

Maybe this could be of some help: come - Definition and pronunciation | Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

A mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant.
The phrase "come over' put in bold, does it mean the same as "come"? Or, is there any difference in the sentence if "over" is deleted?

NOT A TEACHER

I recommend that you look up "come over" in a good dictionary. For example, take a look at this entry from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.

come over phrasal verb
1 a) if someone comes over, they visit you at your house : Do you want to come over on Friday evening?

b) if someone comes over, they come to the country where you are come over to/from When did your family first come over to America?



2 come over somebody if a strong feeling comes over you, you suddenly experience it : A wave of sleepiness came over me.
I’m sorry about that – I don’t know what came over me (= I do not know why I behaved in that way ) .

3 if an idea comes over well, people can understand it easily : I thought that the points he was making came over quite clearly.

4 if someone comes over in a particular way, they seem to have particular qualities SYN come across : He didn’t come over very well (= seem to have good qualities ) in the interview.
come over as She comes over as a very efficient businesswoman.

No, you cannot replace "come over" with "come", because that wouldn't make any sense.

 

[eggcracker]

Do you think "A mysterious, terrible change had come the elephant" makes sense? If so, what do you think it means?

Hello emsr2d2. I think I've just caught the mistake. The original sentence will be the as same as "A mysterious, terrible change had come to the elephant", I suppose.

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello emsr2d2. I think I've just caught the mistake. The original sentence will be the as same as "A mysterious, terrible change had come to the elephant", I suppose.

No.

 

[emsr2d2]

No. There is no error in the original sentence. Did you look up those definitions of "to come over"?

 

[eggcracker]

No.

Then, Maybe "A mysterious, terrible change had affected elephant"?, I suppose by guessing from the definition below....

[h=4]come over somebody[/h]

[no passive] to affect somebodyA fit of dizziness came over her.I can't think what came over me (= I do not know what caused me to behave in that way).​

 

[eggcracker]

No. There is no error in the original sentence. Did you look up those definitions of "to come over"?

Yes. there was several definitions of "come over"

 

[bhaisahab]

Yes. there were several definitions of "come over"

Were there? Well, that's usual, now you have to find the one that comes closest to your perceived meaning.

 

[5jj]

Yes. [STRIKE]t[/STRIKE]There [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] were several definitions of "come over".

When we find several definitions of a word/phrase in a dictionary, then we try to find, with the help of the example sentences given, the one that we appear to need. The second definition provided by Chicken Sandwich is spot on.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes. There [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] were several definitions of "come over"

"Had affected" is good.

 

[eggcracker]

Were there? Well, that's usual, now you have to find the one that comes closest to your perceived meaning.

Hello bhaisahab.
I wrote some lists from the dictionary.
come over
1.feel (dizzy, faint)
2.understand(=come across)
3.travel from one place to another
4.affect (somebody)
5.change from one side, opinion to another

So again, I think "4.affect" is the closest meaning to "come over" in the original sentence among the several definitions about "come over".

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

So again, I think "4.affect" is the closest meaning to "come over" in the original sentence among the several definitions about "come over".

See:

When we find several definitions of a word/phrase in a dictionary, then we try to find, with the help of the example sentences given, the one that we appear to need. The second definition provided by Chicken Sandwich is spot on.

 

[eggcracker]

See:

2 come over somebody if a strong feeling comes over you, you suddenly experience it : A wave of sleepiness came over me.
I’m sorry about that – I don’t know what came over me (= I do not know why I behaved in that way ) .
​

:-D I think now I catch the meaning of "come over" in the sentence.
A mysterious, terrible change had come over the elephant.
means The elephant suddenly had experienced a mysterious, terrible change.
and similar to the sentence "A mysterious, terrible change had affected the elephant." and slightly different.

 

[emsr2d2]

Without wishing to bring a vulgar tone to the thread (which of course means that I'm about to do exactly that!) - be careful with how you use this.

Emotion (Sadness) + came over somebody = fine
Noun (A wave of sleepiness) + came over somebody = fine
Personal pronoun (he) + came over somebody = vulgar and to be avoided.
Noun of person/proper noun (My brother/James) + came over somebody = definitely something you don't want to own up to.

A terrible sadness came over me in the night. :up:
A wave of tiredness came over me in the night. :up:
He came over me in the night.
My brother came over me in the night. :shock:

I can't decide whether to explain it now or wait until someone asks! I think I'll wait.

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

He came over me in the night.
My brother came over me in the night. :shock:

I get it, but is this usage of "come" really vulgar? Most dictionaries say it's informal... I mean, "bloke" is also categorised as "informal", but it's not vulgar, so I don't think that "informal" equals "vulgar", in terms of how dictionaries classify words.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, it's informal but it's not really something you'd use in polite company. Having said that, you would be unlikely to be discussing that subject matter in polite company whether you use formal or informal terminology. That's more what I meant by vulgar.

 

[birdeen's call]

I believe "come upon" could also be used, although I can't find this meaning here.