To go means to move from one place to another, to leave, or to travel somewhere. When you go to school in the morning, you're moving from home to your classroom. When a train goes to Chicago, it travels there. When your parents say it's time to go, they mean it's time to leave.

The word shows up everywhere because moving and changing location are such basic parts of life. A ball goes over the fence. Time goes by quickly when you're having fun. A road goes through the mountains. Stories tell how things went (the past tense of go): “Yesterday went well” or “The party went late into the night.”

Go also means to work or function properly. If your bike goes, it works. When something goes wrong, it stops working as it should. You might ask “Does this go here?” when assembling something, meaning “Does this piece belong in this spot?”

The word appears in countless phrases that add specific meanings: go ahead (proceed), go along with (agree), go back on (break a promise), go through with (complete despite difficulty). Learning these combinations helps you understand how flexible and useful this small word really is.