EXPRESSION WITH GET

 

A Get seems to be used all the time in spoken English. It has the following basic meanings:

• receive, obtain or buy something, e.g. Please get me a newspaper when you're in town- I got a letter from John today; She got top marks in her exam.

• show a change in position – move or be moved, e.g. How are you getting home tonight?

• show a change in state - become or make, e.g. We are all getting older if not wiser.

B Get also has a number of other more specific meanings.

It's my turn to get dinner tonight. [prepare a meal]

I don't get it. Why did he speak like that? [understand]

His behaviour really gets me at times. [annoy]

 

Ex.1. There are a lot of instances of get in this text. Replace them all with another way of conveying the same idea. Notice that by doing this you are changing the text from something very informal to something slightly more formal.

I don’t often get interesting advertising circulars these days. However, quite an unusual one came this morning. It was headed ‘Are you worried about getting our of touch?’ And it went on, 'If so, get some of our special tablets today. Taking just one in the morning will help you get on well at work and at home. It will stop little problems from getting you down and will ensure that you get rich and successful with the minimum of effort on your behalf. Send just $25 today and you will get your tablets and your key to success within ten days.'

C The table below shows just some of the phrasal verbs based on get.

phrasal verb	meaning	example
get at	reach, find	I hope the enquiry will get at the truth.
get away with	do something wrong without being caught	The robbers got away with several thousand pounds.
get behind	fail to produce something at the right time	I've got terribly behind with my work.
get by	manage (financially)	We could never get by on my salary alone.
get down	depress	This weather is really getting me down.
get down to	begin to give serious attention to	It's time you got down to some work.
get on	manage	However, will we get on without you?
get on	advance, develop	Jo is getting on very well at school now.
get out of	avoid a responsibility	I'll try and get out of my lesson tomorrow.
get over	recover from	She's getting over a bad attack of flu.
get round	spread	The rumour soon got round the whole village.
get through	come to a successful end	What a relief that she got through all her exams!
get through	use up all of	He got through his month's salary in just one weekend.
get up to	to do (especially something bad)	They're very quiet. I wonder what they're getting up to?

 

Ex.2. Fill in the blanks in the sentences below in the most appropriate way.

1 Although they had only told their parents about their engagement, the news soon got............................... the village.

2 She must have made a good impression last week because she has got............................to the second round of interviews for the post.

3 I love watching TV cookery programmes but when they describe a recipe, it can be hard to get................................. all the details in time.

4 We get................................. only because we live very economically.

5 What have you been getting................................. since we last met?

6 Surely you haven't got................................. all the biscuits already?