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Both of the following two sentences taken from two different sources contain
`来たこと`. How could this `来たこと` be interpreted?

  * 「来れたら行く」と言って来たことある人ってほとんどいない気がします。 ([source](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1295722152))
  * これは上流から見ているので奥から進んで来たことになる。 ([source](http://www.geocities.jp/chilokulo/wek.html))

  
== Edit ==  
Corrected the link of the second source.
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meaning
What's the meaning of 来たこと?
The simplest answer is 来たこと means **"the fact/matter/thing of having come"**.
It is a **"noun-ed" form of 来る**.

To the best of my knowledge there is **no special connection between 来た and
こと** here (as opposed to other possible verbs). The こと is acting as a
**nominalizer** (it converts the previous verb phrase into a noun phrase:

eg 走る->走ること "(to) run"->"the matter/thing of running".

**こと** can act this way **with most verbs** and many verb tenses. There also
several other "general" nominalizers like もの and nominalizer の.

This page of Tae Kim's guide goes into more detail about the ことがある use:
<http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/genericnouns>

* * *

The **first** sentence can be roughly translated as

> People who say "I'll come if I am able to" and then actually show up pretty
> much don't exist

or more loosely:

> When people say "I'll come if I am able to", they generally don't have any
> intention of coming.

The **second** sentence is maybe along the lines of

> Here, if we were looking from upstream, it (becomes clear/appears) that
> (you/it?) have (proceeded and) come from the inside.

with the exact translation depending on context.

[Edit: from the now-working source link we can see the context] He is talking
about the picture of the stream, which he has been following from downstream
to upstream. He is saying that if the picture was instead taken from the
upstream direction, then we would be able to see how he had come from the
inside (of the town, I'm guessing).

* * *

It might be easier to **parse the first sentence** with some extra punctuation
and particles inserted explicitly as so:

> 「来れたら、行く」と言って、来たことがある人ってほとんどいない気がします。

来れたら、行く = "If (I) am able to, (I) will come." 言って、来たことがある人 = "A person who,
having said that, has come"
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answer