I came to Goyang (?)

1

Hello, I have a question on tense and verbs.

I’m reading a book in Korean on English usage. It gives situations and picks correct sentences among several ones for each situation. For example:

============
Situation: My wife is at home and finds I am not at home. She calls me to ask where I am now. I am now in Goyang (a name of town in Korea) to buy groceries. I just came here five minutes ago.

The conversation through the phone goes like this:

Wife: Where did you go?
Me: _________. I’ll back in an hour.

The author says these below are correct sentences for blanks:
I came to Goyang.
I went to Goyang.
I just arrived in Goyang.
I’m in Goyang.

First of all, I think the wife should ask in a more natural way like “where are you”, not “where did you go”. Anyway, I think the most natural one is the fourth, I’m in “Goyang”. The author explained the third one “I just arrived in Goyang” is good enough because of “just”. Arrive itself is unnatural for the situation but the verb is not really important in this case since “just” is emphasized in the sentence.

What do you think? What do you think of the third sentence?

However, these below sentences are wrong:
I arrived at Goyang.
I just arrived at Goyang.
I arrived in Goyang.
I’m at Goyang.

The author explains most of them are wrong because of “at”. As for the third sentence, again, he writes it is wrong because it is not contextually correct for this situation.

Do you agree the explanation?
Please let me know what you think.

Thank you in advance,
sweetpumpkin

2 Likes
2

Here is my proposal:
Wife: “Where did you go?” (Assuming she has seen me leaving the house, otherwise she could also ask ‘Where are you’ if she might think you are still somewhere at your property.)

You: ‘I’ve just arrived in Goyang’ or “I’m at the grocery story buying you your favorite noodles” or “I’m buying groceries and I’ll be back in an hour”.

So, yes I would say “I’ll be bak in an hour” is a perfectly natural sentence in this situation. Let’s see what @Alan and @Luschen have to say…

1 Like
3

I agree with Torsten. To me, “Where did you go?” expresses a little more surprise than “Where are you?”. When I hear “Where did you go?”, I imagine the wife saying “I just saw you here a little while ago, you never said you were leaving, and now I can’f find you anywhere.”

“I just arrived in Goyang.” is fine. It gives a little more information than “I’m in Goyang.” since it tells the listener that since he just arrived, he is just starting his errands, which is why he won’t be back for an hour.

2 Likes
4

Hi T.J., do you see any difference between “I’ve just arrived” and “I just arrived”?

1 Like
5

Torsten, I do not - to me they seem identical.

2 Likes