Got or have?

Josh Lalonde   Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:47 pm GMT
Do you use 'got' or 'have' to say that you possess something? I usually use 'got', though I use have in more formal situations. So in speaking to my friends, I might say "I got the car today," but when speaking to a professor, I would say "I have my paper today." How does everyone else use these words? (I think 'have' is more common in the UK?)
Andy   Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:31 pm GMT
In the UK both are regularly used but using "got" in some situations could be frowned upon. Taking your second example ,"I got my paper today" sounds like country bumpkin.
Josh Lalonde   Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:41 pm GMT
<<In the UK both are regularly used but using "got" in some situations could be frowned upon. Taking your second example ,"I got my paper today" sounds like country bumpkin.>>

I probably wouldn't say that. I might say to my friends though "I got my paper to hand in today," or "I got a test today."
Skippy   Thu Mar 22, 2007 8:19 pm GMT
This is widespread in the Southern US... I say "got" way more frequently than "have." On top of using it for "to have" I also use it for passive... "I got hit."
Travis   Fri Mar 23, 2007 12:20 am GMT
I normally use "have" or "have got" for pure possession, and using "got" alone for such really rubs me the wrong way; as for "have" versus "have got", though, I use them widely in all registers but the very most formal, where then I would use just "have" (but even in most formal speech I still use both regularly). However, I regularly use "got" alone alongside "have gotten" to indicate acquiring something; even then, though, "got" alone in the sense of acquiring something is solely informal in nature, and in formal speech I would just use "have gotten".
Jim   Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:01 am GMT
For possession I use both "have" and "have got" but never "got". Of course, the word "gotten" is not part of my vocabulary.
Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:31 am GMT
Yes, I often use 'have got' as well; it's somewhat more formal. I also use 'get' for the passive; how common is this?
Travis   Fri Mar 23, 2007 6:40 am GMT
>>Yes, I often use 'have got' as well; it's somewhat more formal. I also use 'get' for the passive; how common is this? <<

The use of "get" for the passive is extremely common in North American English overall, especially in informal speech (and yes, my dialect has such). However, the sort of passive that "get" denotes is purely an active passive and does not allow for a static passive, which is something that people often forget to mention.
Josh Lalonde   Fri Mar 23, 2007 1:12 pm GMT
<<The use of "get" for the passive is extremely common in North American English overall, especially in informal speech (and yes, my dialect has such). However, the sort of passive that "get" denotes is purely an active passive and does not allow for a static passive, which is something that people often forget to mention.>>

What do you mean by 'active passive'?
Travis   Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:37 pm GMT
>>What do you mean by 'active passive'?<<

I mean cases of the passive that indicate an actual action being done to the subject, as opposed to cases which do not indicate any particular action occuring in the period in time in question.
Uriel   Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:17 am GMT
<<Of course, the word "gotten" is not part of my vocabulary. >>

Ah, you should try it, Jim, it's lots of fun!

I would say I use have and got pretty interchangeably, depending on what I'm saying or how I've worded my sentence -- sometimes one just fits better than the other.
Rene   Mon Mar 26, 2007 2:50 pm GMT
I use have or have got. Just got sounds past-tense to me. "I got my paper today sounds like someone handed you your paper earlier, or you grabbed it while running out the door. It doesn't sound like you necessarily still have it. That sounds a bit confusing I know, but I can't explain it more clearly, and who cares, it's just my opinion anyway.

P.S. Uriel's right "gotten" is a lot of fun. I counted the other day and I used it eight times and I wasn't trying to use it more often than usual.
Jim   Tue Mar 27, 2007 12:04 am GMT
So all these years I've been missing out. Think of all the fun I could have hadden.
Guest   Tue Mar 27, 2007 3:07 am GMT
>>P.S. Uriel's right "gotten" is a lot of fun. I counted the other day and I used it eight times and I wasn't trying to use it more often than usual. <<

I couldn't avoid the Americanism (modern day) 'gotten' even if I tried.
Rene   Tue Mar 27, 2007 2:51 pm GMT
"Think of all the fun I could have hadden." LOL, that's a good one. Actually Guest, if I remember correctly gotten is an old thing and not a modernism, but don't quote me on that.