Come in means to enter a room or building; Come in! is what you say when someone knocks. The second meaning is to arrive or be received: people say it about applications, orders and news, and also about a train or plane that has arrived.
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come in; come in and + verb; orders/news/applications + come in; go in (away from the speaker)
- Come in and take a seat; the others will be here in a minute.
- Applications for the summer course started coming in as soon as we posted the advert.
What changed
First versionYou wait outside, and I'll come in and talk to the manager.
RevisionYou wait outside, and I'll go in and talk to the manager.
The choice between come and go depends on where the speaker is. Come in means moving inside, towards the place where the speaker or listener is, while go in means moving inside, away from them. Here the speaker is standing outside and is going into the building themselves, so go in is needed.
With the name of a place, people usually say come into: She came into the kitchen. Also remember come in handy, which means to be useful: A power bank always comes in handy on long trips.
Your turn
When someone knocked, I looked up from my desk and told them to ___.
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come in — The person behind the door has to come into the room where the speaker is sitting, so come in. Go in would mean moving away from the speaker, for example into the next room.
Write about a job or course where things keep coming in: applications, emails, orders. Say what exactly comes in and when you get the most of it.
At our café, most online orders come in between noon and two, so we need an extra cook at lunchtime.
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