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It is constructed in present simple. So it asks where I am coming from in general. How one can answer this question?

I know this question is correctly asked but I can't understand its meaning or what purpose it serves to. Can someone explain?

Note: I read Difference between "where are you from" and "where do you come from". It mainly concerns about differences, so it doesn't answer my question. It is not a duplicate.

laugh salutes Monica C
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J.Smith
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1 Answers1

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It doesn't have an exact meaning - you yourself say "in general" in your queston. (Pretty much nothing does in conversational English).

One could quite legitimately answer "two stops away" if the question was asked on a bus, or "Earth" if asked on a distant space-station.

This phrase is most commonly used as part of "small talk" i.e. where the questioner is merely "making conversation" and doesn't actually care what the answer is.

MikeB
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