Jo: I'm glad we've got this sat-nav system, to stop us getting lost.
Sam: Yes. Isn't it nice to get away from the noise and stress of London?
Jo: Yes! I found cycling difficult at first, but now I'm getting used to it.
Sam: Me too, but now I'm getting tired.
Jo: Shall we get something to drink?
Sam: Good idea! Oh no! We forgot to get some money from the bank this moring!
Jo: No problem-I'll get my credit card out...
Any dictionary can give you a terrifyingly extensive list of the many and various meanings and uses of the verb “get”, but what I've never seen is a comforting, unifying theory: can anyone come up with the one, fundamental idea behind all the manifestations of this prodigiously versatile verb?
Well, since I'm personally a fan of unifying theories, I shall give it a try:
I've mentioned before the difference between “state” verbs – such as “know” and “like” - which describe situations that simply exist, and “dynamic” verbs – like “destroy” and “create” - which describe actions and events. Well the verb “get” is a classic “dynamic” verb, in that it generally suggests a transition from one state to another.
When it's a simple transitive verb, “get” describes the change from the state of not having / possessing something to the state of having / possesing it. Think of the different ways that this can happen, with, say, a banana – all of them can be described with “get”:
1: Someone gives one to you: “I got a banana for my birthday.”
2: You buy one: “I'm going to the shop to get a banana.”
3: You pick one off a tree: “It's hard to get those bananas on the high branches.”
4: You remember that you brought one in your packed lunch: “I'll just get that banana I put in my bag.”
Of course the thing that you didn't have before but do now doesn't have to be as tangible as a banana: You might get an impression, an idea, a feeling, a headache or a round of applause.
When it's followed by a preposition, “get” usually describes a change of physical position or location, the change from being somewhere to being somewhere else:
We talk about the change from not being, to being, in a car or a taxi, or a helicopter, or submarine, with the phrasal verb “get in” or “get into” and about the opposite process using the phrasal verb “get out of”. (“Bond got out of the helicopter and got into the waiting taxi”).
Changes between the states of being and not being on a horse, bicycle, bus, train or aeroplane, meanwhile, are characterized by the phrasal verbs “get on” and “get off” (“Minutes after getting off the 'plane at Houston, he had got on his horse and ridden into the sunset.”) If you manage to change your location for a week, from home to a beach in the Bahamas, you have “got away”; and you know very well how we describe the change from the state of being in bed to the state of interacting, vertically, with the world: a state we describe as being “up”...
Sometimes the “position” is not physical but metaphorical: the preposition “over” can describe the state of being beyond a certain problem or emotion – having left it behind or recovered from it (“You ruined my life, but I'm over you now!”). For this reason, the change from being affected by something to being indifferent to it, or calm about it, is to “get over it.” Similarly, being into something can mean liking it, being enthiusiastic about it. Someone who has changed from being indifferent to The Simpsons to being a Simpsons fan might summarise this change thus: “I've really got into The Simpsons recently!”
Other states are commonly described using adjectives, or the past participle forms of verbs - “lost”, “ill”, “bored”, “old”, “angry”, “excited”: how do we describe the process by which we arrive at (get to) these states? You've guessed it - “Take a map so you won't get lost!”; “She was getting very bored”; “I'm getting old”; “The Colonel started to get angry”, “Are you getting excited about your holiday?”. If you have changed your marital status you have either “got married” or “got divorced.”
A gradual change of state, already in course, can be conveyed with “get”+ comparative adjective:“Policemen are getting younger”; “As the lecture progressed George got more and more confused.”
And talking of confusion, I can hear you asking: What about James Brown's “I Got You – I Feel Good” and Gershwin's “I Got Rhythm”? Well in these cases there's an ellipsis – a missing but implied word, which is “have”. The form that is being used and adapted here is “have got”, which – as you know - is the way we usually refer to things that are possessed by, or that belong to, someone in some way. This makes sense, in terms of the first, transitive meaning of “get” that I discussed: “have got” is the present perfect of “get” – the change from not possessing to possessing has already happened.
So: get = change of state. It's not a bad theory, is it? Ok, it doesn't explain why to “get on with” or “get along with” someone mean to have a harmonious, friendly relationship with them, nor why “getting on with your work” should mean rejecting distractions and concentrating your energy on the task. Unfortunately, while understanding certain logical systems in the English language can be a big help, when it comes to mastering those very idiomatic phrasal verbs – the ones which contain prepositions that don't indicate place, direction or state - there is often no alternative to reading, listening, studying and learning. As a friend of mine used to advise me whenever I was having trouble preparing for an exam: “You've got to do it to get through it, so get to it!”
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