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I have been reading the book which is 'The Road To The Churchyard' written by Thomas Mann and translated by David Luke. It follows bellow.

On the saddle sat a young man-a boy, a carefree tourist. He made no pretension to be counted among the great ones of this earth, oh dear me no! He was riding quite an inexpensive machine of no matter what make, a bicycle costing two hundred marks, just as it came.

I wonder the meaning of the verb 'come' in this text. Please help me.:)

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  • 'Wonder' is always used with the preposition 'about' (or 'at', in a related sense) rather than a true direct object. Here, I'd use 'I'm wondering what the meaning of the verb 'come' in this text is.' Commented Oct 14, 2014 at 14:57

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This is an idiom "as it comes", meaning just as it is, as you see it.

For example:

A: "How do you like your coffee?"
B: "Just as it comes"

B has no preference about the coffee and is happy to accept whatever A serves up - strong, black, milky etc.

Example 2:

John takes each day as it comes.

This expression means that John is not planning far ahead, he deals with each day as it happens no matter what unexpected events may occur.

So the boy in your sentence has bought the bike for 200 marks without caring what make it was and without any added extras. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).

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