As any English student knows one of the most frustrating things to learn are all the various uses of 'get'. 'Get' is used as a verb by itself with various meanings. One of the most difficult areas of usage is how 'get' combines with prepositions for form phrasal verbs. Add to these problems the variations in colloquial usage and you have got ;-) a recipe for confusion! Below is a list of the principal usage of 'get' as a man verb, 'get' in idiomatic usage, and 'get' in phrasal verb combinations. Hopefully you will get it (i.e. understand the proper usage) after you have finished.
GET alone
|
Meaning |
Example |
|
To receive |
I got a book for my birthday. |
|
To earn |
I get $7 an hour. |
|
To bring or fetch |
Can you get that book for me? |
|
To understand |
Do you get the lesson? |
|
To be affected by, or catch |
He got a cold last week. |
|
To catch or take |
I got the 4.55 train to New York. |
|
To communicate with |
I got him by phone. |
|
To have a strong effect on |
That film really got me. |
|
To capture or seize |
The police got him at the station. |
GET used in a phrasal verb
These are not all meanings of these phrasal verbs. I have chosen the principle meanings as a way of focusing on the principal meanings of these extremely important verbs.
|
Phrasal Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
|
To get about (or around) |
To be socially active |
Tom really gets around, doesn't he? |
|
To get ahead |
To be successful |
It's very difficult to get ahead nowadays. |
|
To get away |
To escape |
The thief got away from the police. |
|
To get back |
To recover or retrieve |
I got my books back from Tom. |
|
To get by |
To survive financially |
Sally gets by on just $1,000 a month. |
|
To get in |
To enter a car, train etc. |
Come on, get in! Let's go. |
|
To get into |
To be accepted |
He got into the university of his choice. |
|
To get off |
To exit from a train, bus etc. |
Jerry got off at 52nd Street. |
|
To get on with |
To have a good relationship with |
I really get on well with Janet. |
|
To get out |
To leave |
I got out of class at 3.30. |
|
To get over |
To recover from an illness or bad occurrence |
He got over his operation very quickly. |
|
To get through |
To succeed in an examination, test etc. |
That was a difficult test to get through, wasn't it? |
|
To get up |
To get out of bed |
I got up at 7 this morning. |
Get - Colloquial usage
|
Verb |
Meaning |
Example |
|
Gotta |
To have to (US) |
I gotta go it's late |
|
Have got to |
To have to (US) |
I've got to hurry up! |
|
To get down to business |
To begin working |
Tom arrived at 12 and immediately got down to business. |
|
To get together |
To meet |
Let's get together this weekend. |
|
To get it together |
To improve one's performance |
Come on! Get it together, you are playing horrible tennis. |
