why "it was a dream come true"?

[vaok]

I t was a dream come true.

why here use come true? why not a dream that had come true?

[Conchita]

'Why' is not the best question when it comes to English, Vaok.

While 'a dream that had come true' would be grammatically correct, the set phrase is 'a dream come true'.

[hewhocares]

There's just one thing I'd like to add, namely: not only is "dream come true" a set expression, but it is also perfectly correct from the grammatical point of view, because, as I'm sure you know, the verb "come" is irregular (come - came,come) whose "infinitive" form is identical to "past participle". Here the expression "to come true" (which means "to materialize, become a reality, become fulfilled" is used with the verb in the "past participle" form by analogy with "girls gone wild" or "teacher turned gangster". In other words, nothing to be surprised or puzzled by, because in this case everything makes perfect sense, even though in language it does not have to be this way.

[Alan]

I'd be happier with a dream come true.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Head expressions for you

[Yankee]

[hewhocares]

To Amy: nail on the head, actually

To Alan: where is your consistency: how about discussing language matters that matter - that's how you phrased it. Dream come true is the core that matters, while the indefinite article may be replaced by, say, a possessive pronoun (my/his dream come true) or an adjective a longtime/coveted/cherished, etc. dream come true or even the definite article: the dream of my/his/her life come true. So the article is irrelevant here, Alan, in contrast to the "in a sense that/in the sense that" question.

[vaok]

a set phrase

I see. thank you very much!

[Alan]

Hi,

Oh dear indeed. I should have said: a drean come true, naughty me!

If you care, hewho,who said anything about articles being irrelevant? 'A dream come true' uses 'a' to mean 'one', doesn't it?

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Womens' Day

[Tom]

Hi Voak

I also once asked about this special use of "come".

Expression: "...come to help celebrate..."

...and a much more detailed discussion here:

http://www.englishforums.com/English/ExpressionGivesStrengthFaceBusy-LiesAhead/vzxhc/Post.htm

Tom