The Problem with Get in English

The English irregular verb get, er, gets everywhere! As you may know, it can have dozens of meanings. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary lists more than 170 different meanings of get. From ‘receive’ to ‘prepare’ and ‘obtain’ to ‘become’, the meaning of get can be difficult to tie down. When you throw dozens of idioms and phrasal verbs with get into the mix, students can be forgiven for tearing their hair out – all due to the problem with get.  But how can we learn the many meanings of get? What about those tricky idioms and phrasal verbs? What about get as a causative verb (to get somebody to do something for you)? The free printable worksheets below can help out.

It may be a good idea to think of get as an empty word that has no particular meaning of its own. It can change its identity in any given context. Remember that get belongs to an informal style: we use it most often in spoken and informal English. The large number of idioms and phrasal verbs confirms this. It may be preferable to use a ‘better’ (i.e. longer, higher-level) verb instead of get in formal or written English, for example:

Dear Sir, We have got your application…  >  Dear Sir, We have received your application…

These resources are completely free to use, so please feel free to share them widely!

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For answers to the worksheets, download the FREE Big Grammar Book Intermediate Book 1

100 Common Collocations with Get

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/100-common-collocations-with-get-updated.pdf

20 Different Meanings of Get

Note: this worksheet proves how boring your writing would be if you used get every time instead of more interesting verbs!

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/20-different-meanings-of-get.pdf

Common Collocations with Get – 20 Idioms

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/common-collocations-with-get-20-idioms.pdf

Common Collocations with Get – 20 Phrasal Verbs

Direct download: https://purlandtraining.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/common-collocations-with-get-20-phrasal-verbs.pdf

Free Podcast and Worksheets – Causative Verbs in English – Have and Get