go back to

To return to a place, person, activity, or earlier situation.

• We must go back to the hotel.
• She went back to her hometown last year.
• Will you go back to teaching after the summer?

How to use it: go back to someone/something (I do not want to go back to my old job.); go back to doing something (He went back to reading after the call.)

Similar words: return to

Common phrases: go back to bed, go back to school

To have begun or first existed at a particular time in the past.

• The custom goes back to ancient times.
• Their dispute goes back to the last election.
• These village celebrations go back to the eighteenth century.

How to use it: go back to a time (This tradition goes back to the Middle Ages.)

Similar words: date from, originate in

Common phrases: go back to antiquity, go back to childhood

If people do this, they have known each other since a particular time in the past.

• Ben and I go back to college.
• Those two go back to their first job.
• Do you and Sara go back to primary school?

How to use it: someone and someone go back to a time (Maya and I go back to our school days.)

Similar words: know each other since

Common phrases: go back to school, go back to college