Phrase Usage – What Does ‘How Come’ Mean?

phrase-usagephrases

Is How come a phrase? What does it mean? Is it formal or informal? British or American?
Can I use it in anywhere?

Best Answer

How come is a fixed phrase with fixed uses of its own.

  1. It means, as you have divined, why, and may be used, like why, either as the head of a noun phrase, or as a bare interrogative, or as an interrogative head; but as an interrogative head it does not take ‘DO-support’—that is, it is followed by an ordinary clause in indicative form:

    And that's why I went to the party. ... And that's how come I went to the party.
    Why? .... How come?
    Why did you go to the party? ... How come you went to the party?

  2. It is never inflected: we never say ✲How came or ✲How has come or ✲How comes or anything of the sort.

How come is not used in formal writing or speech; it is distinctly casual.

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