Do I come by? Should I stop by? If you have been learning English for a long time, you will know there are MANY groups of phrasal verbs that have a very small difference in nuance. In your native language, they might be the same thing, but we feel the need to distinguish these meanings. I apologize on behalf of English. You can find a way to predict phrasal verbs on the Premium PDF section of my blog.
They all are connected about visiting. Whether you come by or swing by, there is some visiting involved, but the nuances are a little difference as you will see.
“Stop by” is all about detours. It’s for a place that is not your destination. You are only pausing your journey to make a quick stop at some place like a bus that takes a break on a way to its destination.
On the way home, I’m going to stop by the store to buy something for our party.
= I was already heading home, so I will make a detour to the store.
Can you stop by the pharmacy when you go downtown?
= When your destination is downtown, try to take a short moment to visit the pharmacy for me.
“Come by” is the most neutral; it is about visiting a place for a short time. The emphasis is on short time.
When the repairman comes by, offer him something to drink.
= Give something to the repairman who is going to be in our house for a quick repair.
I’ll come by your house later today.
= I will visit your house for a short time.
“Drop by” has another special meaning. It is done at an unspecified time. You don’t make an appointment to drop by.
The neighbor dropped by to give us some mail that was delivered to them by accident.
= I didn’t expect the neighbor to visit.
I’ll drop by the post office if I am in the neighborhood.
= If I am near the post office, I will go there, but it is possible that I don’t go at all.
I use “swing by” the same as “drop by“; there is no specific time.
Can I swing by your house later to talk?
= At some unknown and unplanned time, I want to come to your house.
I swung by the café for a quick coffee before I got here.
= Before arriving at this place, I made an unplanned visit to the café.
To summarize the differences:
stop by = make a detour from your original plan
come by = neutral; go somewhere for a short time
drop by = swing by = make an visit without warning
Try replacing your boring verbs like “go” or “come” with these flashy words to sound like a native.
Swing by my YouTube channel where you can see more good study tips for learning a language.
Have fun talking about visiting a place!
