Incorrect usage of the word "get"
Am I the only totally annoyed by the incorrect usage of all the forms of the word "get"?
Every day I read or hear it used incorrectly: "He got assassinated" instead of "He was assassinated." "She will get initiated into the sorority tomorrow" instead of "She will be initiated into the sorority tomorrow." What has happened in the past few years to start this? I don't get it.
As Guest above me has stated, that is the correct usage of 'get'. Consult a dictionary, I'm pretty sure it's listed there. If not, try something more advance.
Get here means to become, and not to be, it is a transition, not a static state (the verb to be), compare:
She got pregnant.
She was pregnant.
Guest is right. Get not only means to obtain or retrieve, but also to become. An interesting point is that the German for 'to get' is bekommen, which is similiar to the English 'become'.
'To get pregnant' isn't quite the same as what the OP is referring to. All the examples they gave were of 'to get' replacing 'to be' in passive constructions, which means it is always followed by the present perfect form of a verb.
I don't think it's incorrect, maybe a more recent development and perhaps less formal. But in fact I think it is actually a clearer, less ambiguous way of expressing passive constructions, as it implies that something has happened rather than just being in a certain state, as 'to be' does.
German uses 'werden' in all its passive constructions, which translates as 'become', and obviously 'get' has a similar meaning.
<<mrspoz Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:54 am GMT
Am I the only totally annoyed by the incorrect usage of all the forms of the word "get"?
Every day I read or hear it used incorrectly: "He got assassinated" instead of "He was assassinated." "She will get initiated into the sorority tomorrow" instead of "She will be initiated into the sorority tomorrow." What has happened in the past few years to start this? I don't get it.>>
No. Your last sentence is incorrect. It should be "I don't be it". lol.
It's only "incorrect" in formal texts. It's a no-no in research papers, newspapers (save a few exceptions...), etc.
Otherwise it's an everyday language. Take the word "get" off my tongue, and I won't express myself as easily. ;p
She got killed.
She was killed.
She got pregnant.
She was pregnant.
She got fired.
She was fired.
She got assassinated.
She was assassinated.
She got robbed.
She was robbed.
She got sick.
She was sick.
She got hired.
She was hired.
She got in trouble.
She was in trouble.
She got married.
She was married.
Etc. What's the difference?
"Get" passives are active, while "be" passives are static; "get" passives indicate that something caused the state of the subject to come to be, whereas "be" passives just state what the state of the subject is. "Get" passives imply that the subject experienced a change of state at some point, whereas "be" passives do not imply any such change of state. And when one uses "got", one indicates that the subject experienced a change of state in the past, whereas when one uses "was", one just indicates that the subject just had been in the given state at some point in the past.
Travis
Yes, that's excatly how I see it, fra from being detrimental it actually increases expressivity.
<<She got pregnant.
She was pregnant.
>>
Well, what's the difference between "She became pregnant" and "She was pregnant"?
do you see it now?
Okay. Here are sentences with all three, became, got, and was
She became killed.
She got killed.
She was killed.
She became pregnant.
She got pregnant.
She was pregnant.
She became fired.
She got fired.
She was fired.
She became assassinated.
She got assassinated.
She was assassinated.
She became robbed.
She got robbed.
She was robbed.
She became sick.
She got sick.
She was sick.
She became hired.
She got hired.
She was hired.
She became in trouble.
She got in trouble.
She was in trouble.
She became married.
She got married.
She was married.
Are these all possible sentences?
<<Are these all possible sentences? >>
All are grammatically possible, but usage will filter out some using 'became'.
One doesn't normally say "She became married", although in some situations this would be appropriate.
Another variation to be thrown into the mix would be examples with 'turn'
It turned cold
It became cold
It got cold
It was cold
Okay.
She turned killed.
She became killed.
She got killed.
She was killed.
She turned pregnant
She became pregnant.
She got pregnant.
She was pregnant.
She turned fired.
She became fired.
She got fired.
She was fired.
She turned assassinated.
She became assassinated.
She got assassinated.
She was assassinated.
She turned robbed.
She became robbed.
She got robbed.
She was robbed.
She turned sick.
She became sick.
She got sick.
She was sick.
She turned hired.
She became hired.
She got hired.
She was hired.
She turned in trouble.
She became in trouble.
She got in trouble.
She was in trouble.
She turned married.
She became married.
She got married.
She was married.
lol.