B2Modals and related expressions

Get: different meanings

Use get across common advanced patterns meaning receive, obtain, become, arrive, understand, cause, persuade and experience.

Overview

What this grammar does

Use get across common advanced patterns meaning receive, obtain, become, arrive, understand, cause, persuade and experience.

Form and rules

How it works

Get + noun can mean obtain/receive: get permission, get a refund, get an email.

Get + adjective/past participle often expresses change of state: get tired, get promoted, get stuck.

Get to + place means arrive, but get home/here/there normally has no to.

Get + person + to-infinitive means persuade/cause someone to act: We got them to reconsider.

Get + object + past participle can be causative: get the car repaired; idiomatic phrasal uses of get should be learned separately.

A closer look

Meaning and use

Get + person + to-infinitive means persuade/cause someone to act: We got them to reconsider.

Get + object + past participle can be causative: get the car repaired; idiomatic phrasal uses of get should be learned separately.

Examples

See the pattern in complete sentences

I finally got permission to publish it.

It's getting increasingly difficult.

What time did you get home?

We got the supplier to lower the price.

I need to get my laptop repaired.

Common mistakes

What to avoid

The situation is getting to worse.

The situation is getting worse.

Get + adjective can express a change of state.

How did you get them signing the contract?

How did you get them to sign the contract?

Get + person + to-infinitive means cause/persuade them to act.

Ready to practise?

The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.

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