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'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'



 
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'learn' or 'study' | the usage of the verb 'judge'?
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'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on' Thu Dec 13, 2007 17:30 pm  'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'
 

Hi,

Could you answer the following 2 questions, please:
1. Do "come on" and "go on" give the similar idea, when they mean "to start working/operating"?
For example, are they interchangeable in these examples:
a. The heating system goes on/comes on at 6 AM every morning
b. The street lights go on/come on every time it gets dark.

2. Is it true that "to lay on a service" means "to provide the service".
In particular, do you find these sentences natural:
a. Our company should lay on a much better service if it wants to bring in more money.
b. We need to lay on more coaches since we're expecting a bigger turnout than it was previously planned.

Thanks.
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"go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on" Thu Dec 13, 2007 21:55 pm  "go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on"
 

lost_soul wrote:
Hi,

Could you answer the following 2 questions, please:
1. Do "come on" and "go on" give the similar idea, when they mean "to start working/operating"?
For example, are they interchangeable in these examples: Yes
a. The heating system goes on/comes on at 6 AM every morning
b. The street lights go on/come on every time it gets dark.

2. Is it true that "to lay on a service" means "to provide the service".
In particular, do you find these sentences natural:
a. Our company should lay on a much better service if it wants to bring in more money.
b. We need to lay on more coaches since we're expecting a bigger turnout than it was previously planned. Neither sentence sounds natural to me in AmE. I wouldn't even consider using "lay on". Maybe someone more familiar with British English will comment on whether your use of "lay on" would be natural in BE. (By the way, I'd delete the word 'it' in your last sentence.)
Thanks.
Hi Alex

I've commented in the quote. There is no particular reason that my comments are in blue other than to differentiate my comments from yours inside the quote. (Recently, one member of this forum suddenly seemed confused by this concept -- even though it apparently was never confusing before. Thus this explanation.)
.
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"go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on" Thu Dec 13, 2007 22:03 pm  "go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on"
 

Hi, Amy

Thanks a lot !
About the second part of my question, I'm quoting the definition given by my textbook:
Quote:

Lay on - organise
We hope to lay on some kind of entertainment for the troops


Do you find this definition unnatural ?

Yankee wrote:
I've commented in the quote. There is no particular reason that my comments are in blue other than to differentiate my comments from yours inside the quote. (Recently, one member of this forum suddenly seemed confused by this concept -- even though it apparently was never confusing before. Thus this explanation.)
.

It's never been confusing to me Smile

In passing, a cool avatar you have on this here forum Very Happy
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"go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on" Thu Dec 13, 2007 23:27 pm  "go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on"
 

lost_soul wrote:
About the second part of my question, I'm quoting the definition given by my textbook:

Quote:

Lay on - organise

That spelling of 'organize' suggests to me that your textbook is of British persuasion. Laughing

lost_soul wrote:
We hope to lay on some kind of entertainment for the troops


Do you find this definition unnatural ?
That sentence sounds better, but it is still not something I would choose to say or write myself.

lost_soul wrote:
In passing, a cool avatar you have on this here forum Very Happy

One of my brothers is a professional illustrator. Clearly it was not my brother who created my avatar. Laughing But thanks for the positive feedback, Alex.
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Amy
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Yankee
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Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 7465
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"go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on" Fri Dec 14, 2007 0:36 am  "go on" v.s. "come on" & meaning of "lay on"
 

Thank you very much again, Amy!
Yankee wrote:
That spelling of 'organize' suggests to me that your textbook is of British persuasion. Laughing

I caught on! That is the most likely reason.
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Alex

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lost_soul
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Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1744
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA

'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on' Fri Dec 14, 2007 16:06 pm  'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'
 

Alex

We hope to lay on some kind of entertainment for the troops

Try this instead:

We hope to provide some kind of entertainment for the troops.

or

We hope to provide some sort of entertainment for the troops.
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'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on' Fri Dec 14, 2007 16:06 pm  'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'
 

you could also use "form" to take the place of kind/sort

form, type, sort, kind... would all work in that spot.
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'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on' Mon Dec 17, 2007 17:23 pm  'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'
 

I am fascinated by your new avatar too, Amy!
Pamela
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Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 1232
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'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on' Mon Dec 17, 2007 18:49 pm  'go on' v.s. 'come on' and meaning of 'lay on'
 

.
Thanks, Pamela. When it comes to drawing, I can't manage much more than stick figures. Laughing
On the other hand, I know that Tom (not Prezbucky) is wonderful at drawing.

(Prezbucky, are you good at drawing too?)
.
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Amy
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Yankee
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Posts: 7465
Location: Northeast US

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