Spoken English :Sentences starting with ..How come

1. How come you are so late?'

2. How come he can go but I can't?'

3. How come?

4. How come he didn't get a death sentence?

5. How come you say nothing?

6. How Come These 3 Served More Time?

7. How come you are angry?

8. How come the reporters aren't asking that?

9. How come this song "This Land Is Your Land" became known throughout America.

Question:

It's a line I heard in FRIENDS: "how come you guys have never played poker with us?"

I'd like to know why this sentence is not said like this "how come have you guys never played poker with us?"

If I replace HOW COME with a WHY. Should the sentence be "why you guys have never played poker with us?", or "why have you guys never played poker with us?" ?

Explained here :

If you use "why", it should be "Why have you guys never played poker with us?"

However, "how come ... ?" works like "why is it that ... ?", so the parallel is:

"How come you guys have never played poker with us?"

"Why is it that you guys have never played poker with us?"

How come are you going to India? [ INCORRECT]

“How come you are going to India?” or “Why are you going to India?” [CORRECT]

how come is almost never used where formal writing is demanded, as in academic writing, but is frequently used where informality is okay, as in fiction dialogue and speech:

           TOTAL    SPOKEN  FICTION  MAGAZINE  NEWSPAPER   ACADEMIC
HOW COME   2689     882     1318     283       164         42  

In American English, at least, how come? is informal, but probably not considered slang.

"How come?" is simply a shortening of "How does it come to be (that)?".

is using how come in the example conversational slang?

Yes, it is part of spoken speech, but very rarely in written speech.

And also, is "How come you are angry?" proper english?

No, "how come" is not proper English. It's colloquial, or informal. The actual phrase is "how came", as in:

How came you to be so angry?

Although it is not improper, to use "how come" it in the place of "why" is an American idiom that some teachers would like to eliminate. It is most often used today in informal speech, even though it appears in educated journals in the 19th century. It is a shortened version of the phrase, "how does it come to be..."

"How come" is believed to be short for "how did it come about that," "how is it that," or "how comes it."

Phrasal Verbs Dictionary

english phrasal verbs - Get more College Essays

Phrasal Verbs Starting with ' E '

Phrasal verbs starting with 'E'

These are the most commonly used in everyday Spoken English.

sb-somebody sth-something

Ease off	Become less intense Reduce pressure or intensity	he eased off the gas pedal and the car slowed down. she eased off the accelerator to let the car slow down.
Ease up	relax , calm down	She asked her teacher to EASE UP because she was feeling very stressed.
Eat away at sb (gradually destroy or erode)	if a memory or bad emotion [e.g. bitterness, shame] eats away at someone, they think about it a lot and it makes them very unhappy	The knowledge that I killed him eats away at me inside.
Eat in	to have a meal at home, not in a restaurant	We're eating in tonight as we want to go to bed early.
Eat into sth	to use or take away a large part of something valuable [e.g. savings, profits, leisure time, business]	The high cost of living in London is eating into my savings. Increased administrative work can eat into employees' free time.
Eat out	Eat at a restaurant or at somebody else's home	The cost of eating out is quite high here.
Eat up	Finish eating all the food on one's plate or on the table Use up (resources or materials) Enclose or envelop completely, as if by swallowing	Within two minutes she had eaten up all the bread and cheese. The increased cost of books eats up the school's budget. Any software that stores images will eat up a lot of disk space. (slightly informal) to use large amounts of fuel A big car like this eats up petrol.
Ebb away	to gradually disappear	Our strength ebbed away under the hot sun. His life was ebbing quickly away.
Edge out sb/sth	to cause someone or something to gradually lose their position and to replace them with someone or something else	Mr James who was hired by the previous management was soon edged out by the new boss. Foreign car manufacturers are edging domestic companies out of the markets. [often + of]
End up	to finally be in a particular place, state, or situation, especially without having planned it	We ended up in Blackpool of all places. Illegally imported reptiles such as snakes and crocodiles often end up as shoes, belts and handbags. [often + as] He ended up with an alcohol problem. [often + with] She'll end up pregnant at this rate.
Egg on	Encourage
Eke out	Make sth last long (like money)
Embark on/upon	Start a project,venture etc.
End in	to finish in a particular way	Her first, childless marriage ended in divorce.
Edge up	Approach slowly
Edge out	Gradually push sb/sth out of their position
Enter for	join or enter a competion
Enter into	Become involved in or accept
Eye up	Look carefully at someone
Empty out	empty completely

Phrasal 'C'

Phrasal verbs starting with 'C' 

These are the most commonly used in everyday Spoken English.

 sb-somebody    sth-something

call at
call away
call back	Return or repeat a telephone cal	"I am busy right now--can you call back in an hour?"; "She left a message but the contractor never called back"
call for	Express the need or desire for; ask for	She called for room service
call forth
call in	to pay sb short visit Summon to enter Summon to a particular activity or employment Make a phone call	Call in next time you're in town The nurse called in the next patient. Experts were called in. "call in to a radio station"; "call in sick"
call off	Postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled	"Call off the engagement"
call on/upon	Have recourse to or make an appeal or request for help or information to	"She called on her Representative to help her"
call out	announce or say something in a loud voice	I'll call you back as soon as I hear anything.
call up	Bring forward for consideration Recall knowledge from memory; have a recollection	The case was called up in court. call up memories

 

Phrasal Verbs with Verbs Starting With D

Phrasal Vebs Starting With  "D"

VERB	MEANING	EXAMPLE
drop off	decline gradually	The hill dropped off near the river.
drop off(2)	fall asleep	While doing his homework, he dropped off.
drop off(3)	stop and give something to someone	Would you drop this off at the post office?
drop out	cease to participate	After two laps, the runner dropped out.
die away	diminish in intensity and finally disappear	The sound of their laughter died away.
die down	diminish in intensity gradually	The flames finally died down.
do away with	to stop doing or having something, make something end	He thinks it's time we did away with monarchy.
do without	To manage without	She can't do without a secretary.
drop in drop by drop round drop in on sb drop into sth	to pay an informal visit to a person or a place	1-  Drop by sometime. 2- I thought I'd drop in on you while I was passing. 3-Sorry we are late-we dropped into the pub on the way.
drop out(of something)	(a)- to no longer take part in or be part of sth.   (b)- to leave school ,college etc. without finishing your studies.	1- He has dropped out of active politics. 2- A word that has dropped out of language. (b)- She started an engineering degree but dropped out after only a year
drop over
drive somebody away	to make somebody not want to stay  or not want to go somewhere	1- Her constant nagging drove him away. 2-Terrorist threats are driving away tourists.
dress down
dress up
dress up
dress down
draw up
die off/out
disagree with
do  over	1- to clean or decorate something again 2- to do something again	1- The paint-work  will need doing over soon. 2- She insisted that everything be done over.

 

Many verbs in English are followed by an adverb or a preposition (also called a particle), and these two-part verbs, also called phrasal verbs, are different from verbs with helpers. The particle that follows the verb changes the meaning of the phrasal verb in idiomatic ways: