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Please imagine you leave the company where you work. At the same time, a colleague does the same and quits working there. (The CEO of the company (Terry) was a close friend of you.) A couple of years later you and the colleague run into each other out of the blue walking down a street. You are involved in greeting and your bumping friend tends to ask you whether you have been in touch with your ex-company during this gap. I wonder what can he ask?

1.a- Have you heard from the company?
1.b- Do you have any news from the company?

The problem is that I'm not quite sure if these expressions both mean the same and whether both of them are normally used for someone / something (e.g. a company.)

I am wondering which sentence below sounds natural here?

2.a- Have you heard from Terry?
2.b- Do you have any news from Terry?

To me, in either case, both sentences work equally and idiomatically.

I was wondering if you could help me with this question.

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  • "Do you have any news of..." would be more natural (or "Have you heard any news of...").
    – Kate Bunting
    Nov 21, 2020 at 9:41
  • Could you possibly explain that a little more @Kate Bunting? What it is like this? When each should be used? Is there any nuance between the two? Is it a matter of exception or they work like this (someone / something)? I would appreciate it if you could provide me with some more information.
    – A-friend
    Nov 21, 2020 at 10:22
  • If you say news from you mean that the company or Terry was the source of the news. If you say news of as @KateBunting suggests then the news could have come from any source but be about the company or Terry.
    – mdewey
    Nov 21, 2020 at 11:36
  • Well @mdewey, don't you think in this context “hearing” happens in an instant, and “having” begins at the moment of hearing and lasts forever? I think all my sentences are possible. However, I don’t think everyone would refer to this kind of gossip as “news” while it might sound odd or supercilious sometimes. “Heard from” sounds safer and more usual to me. What about you? I was wondering how do you think of them?
    – A-friend
    Nov 21, 2020 at 11:50
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    Yes, that is what I said in my original comment.
    – Kate Bunting
    Nov 21, 2020 at 12:40

1 Answer 1

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Have you heard from Terry/the company/anyone at the company? = Have they been in contact with you?

Do you have/have you heard any news of Terry/the company? = Have you any up-to-date information about them?

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