Ea Get: uses and expressions HEA Meanings Get is an informal word and is very common in spoken English. It has many meanings. RECEIVE 1 got a couple of letters this morning. You get a certificate at the end of the course. FIND/BUY I got my ticket for the match yesterday. Where did you get those shoes? She's trying co get a new job. BECOME Ie gets dark very carly in December. My hands are getting cold. ARRIVE/REACH When did you get here? I can’t get there hefore 7 pm. P'll phone when I get home. FETCH =——— | Could you get the books from the cupboard? ~~ * |} Wait here while I get the car HERE Get + past participle We use this structure in particular expressions. It is more natural than just using the verb. get married (= marry) Rob and Sarah have just got married. get divorced (= divorce) They got divorced last year. (= the marriage ended officially) get dressed (= dress) I got dressed quickly and went out. get undressed (= undress) He got undressed and got into bed. ‘get changed (= change clothes) | I need to go home and get changed first. get lost (= lose your way) got lost on my way to the station. Hic Get + adjective Get (= become) combines with many adjectives that often describe a change in state. Its getting hov/cold | —‘Pmgetting hot/cold ' dex Creel Shale wae eects « : ¥ Sie ea —etter/worse — bungry eee UY | teady (= preparing) HDS Phrases and phrasal verbs I get on very well with my sister. (= have a very good relationship with my sister) How are you getting on? (= What progress are you making? e.g. with an exercise or in general) Is it difficult to get to know people? (= meet people and make friends) We should get rid of these books. (= sell chem/throw them away; remove them) My alarm wakes me up at 7, but I don’t usually get up (= get out of bed) until 7.15. Those boys get on my nerves (= annoy me and make me angry). They don’t do any work. 60 English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 Exercises Write a synonym for ‘get’ in each of these sentences. Where can I get something to eat round here? I'm just going to get some paper from the office. Pll be back in a minute. What time did they ger here last night? He got very angry when I told him what you did with his CDs. [couldn't get a room; all the hotels were full. I normally get about four or five letters a week. This book is getting quite interesting. I must get some stamps before I go home. He sent the letter last week but I didn’t get it until yesterday. Do they often get here early? SowrisAuaune 1 Complete the dialogues using getting + a suitable adjective. Add other words if necessary. 21S gpg Cb ibe Yes, it is. Tl turn on the heating ym OK, let's have something to eat then. ym Yes, me too. I'll open the window. 4 arts Yes, i Salts Yes, itis. Pl put the lights on. 2a Ithink P'l go to bed. : No, you're not. You're getting much better. You understand a lot now. Rewrite each of these sentences using an expression with ‘get’. The meaning must stay the same. 1 Thad to put on my clothes very quickly. Thad to gt. dasstd. sry. dey. How do you meet people and make friends in this countey? How do you . 3 Thave a good relationship with my boss. 1 4. We would like to throw away most of the furniture in this room. We would like to . 5 Someone told me you're doing a new course. How's it going? Someone told me you're doing a new course. 6 The people in my class really annoy me. The people in my class 7 They're preparing to go out. They're 8. My sister told me to get out of bed. My sister told me to w Write down examples of ‘get’ that you see or hear, then try to group your sentences according to the different meanings. This will help you to get an idea of the ways in which this important word is used in English. English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate) 61mobile phone with you, then Peter can use it He can bring it back here tomorrow, G : uses and expressions Come vs go With go the movement is usually away from the speaker; with come the movement is towards the speaker. For example, you are at school and the time is 9.30 am. Thad to go to Jimmy's to pick up some books. Then I went to the post office before I came to school. Sometimes the speaker imagines they are in another place. When Thomas meets Marta in Spain, he invites her to stay at his home in Switzerland. He says: ‘Would you like to come and visit me in Bern?" (He lives there, so her movement is towards him.) We can also imagine that the listener is in a different place. Talking to Marta, Thomas says: ‘Pl come to your flat at 7.30 pm.’ (She will be at home, so his movement is towards her.) Different meanings of ‘go’ ‘* When you leave a place in order to do an activity, you often express it in these ways. go + -ing form ‘go (out) + for a+ noun We could go shopping. Why don’t we go (out) for a walk/drive? They all went sightseeing. They decided to go (out) for a drink. Td like to go swimming. She wants to go (out) for a meal. * Go can describe a changing state (usually a bad one) with certain adjectives. My dad's going grey (= his hair is going grey) and I’m going bald. (= losing my hair) The company went bankrupt last year. (= lost all its money and had to stop operating) My grandmother is going deaf. (deaf = cannot hear) Our 12-year-old dog is going blind. (blind = cannot see) He'll go mad (= get very angry infml) if you wear his jacket. * When you want to saylask if a road or form of transport takes you somewhere. Does this bus go to the National Gallery? This road goes through the mountains. * Go and get means fetch. Could you go and get the glasses from the kitchen? * When you talk about the usual position for something. The dictionaries go on the bortom shelf. Does this table go next to the wall? Expressions with ‘go’ as noun and verb T've never tried bungee jumping but I'd love to have a go. (= try it) How's it going? (infml) (= How are you? or What progress are you making? e.g. with an exercise) I'd like to see the film, Why don’t we go together? (= go somewhere with another person/people) It’s time to go. (= time for us to leave) 62. English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate)30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 Exercises Complete the dialogue using the correct form of come, go, bring or take. (Two verbs are possible in one of the answers.) A: Whar time are you (1) ..9¢ to Jim's party this evening? 8: Fm not sure because Chris is (2) snnmnnmnnnn here first, and then we'll (3) anne together, 4: Right. Do you know what's happening about the music? 8: Yeah, I’m going to (4) some CDs, and Sue is (5) vee HOT guitar. But I'll probably leave quite early, so could you (6) ss. my CDs back here tomorrow? a: Yeah, sure. What time? a: Well, 1 want to (7) to the shops in the morning. Could you (8) before ven? a: Yeah, no problem. Replace the underlined words with a different word or phrase. The meaning must stay the same. 1 Excuse me. Does this road go to the hus station? fake. me. 2. Some people aren't interested in scuba diving but I've always wanted to have a go. 3 Hi, Sue, Nice to see you again. How's it going? 4 Could you goand get my handbag from the other room? 5 If you want, we could go with each other. ‘Complete these sentences with an -ing noun (c.g. riding), or for a + noun (e.g. for a walk). Tovent oss this morning and bought some books and clothes. We didn’t have much food in the house, so we decided to go out Why don’t we go ... in that nice new bar near the square? I wanted t0 go ... .. because it was my first time in Rome. My brother has just got a new sports car. We could go.... The pool is at the end of the road, so we often go at the weekend. DUR wie Complete these sentences with a suitable word. Don't put the desk in the corner. It doesn’t go ...f iB... You can always wear a hearing aid if you go If business doesn’t improve they could go You can always dye your hair (= change the colour) if you start going And you can wear a wig (= false hair) if you go If the dog comes into the house with wet feet, my aunt will go . He's going con y but he’s hoping to get a guide dogn next year. You don’t need to go on your own. We could go “ NAW BUR Look up ‘go’ in a good English dictionary. Find two or three new meanings (including phrasal verbs and idioms) that you think may be useful to you. Try to learn them. Write down the meanings with example sentences in your notebook. Write a translation as well if you want. English Vocabulary in Use (pre-intermediate & intermediate) 63