This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2121.
Almost 177 ways to use get in English.
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The word get is rampant in English, but should it be used in every context?
Today, hear about a few scenarios where you can sub in get instead of other, more formal verbs.
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Hey, Aubrey, what's shaking today?
Hey, not too much.
How are you?
I'm doing pretty well.
What are we getting into today?
Okay, I have a question.
Okay.
We've been talking about phrasal verbs a little bit lately.
We're not teaching any phrasal verbs today, but...
We had a question about the verb get, which we use to replace so many other verbs.
And when I started looking into this, I realized that get has a ton of phrasal verbs.
I was shocked.
Lindsay, how many would you guess phrasal verbs for the verb get?
In my mind, a ton would be somewhere around 20 or 25, probably.
Feels like that's about right.
That's what I would guess.
That's what I would think.
177.
No way, Aubrey.
I know.
It's crazy.
That is so crazy.
So many of them, like this is, it's 177 uses.
So some of them, like you guys have known, will teach, like checkout, and there are six uses for just that one right.
But total 177.
I don't wonder phrasal verbs are so confusing.
Oh my gosh, that's insane.
We're going to have to do a whole ebook on that just for our listeners on the 177 uses of get.
The 177 ways to use the verb get.
But today it sounds like we're lucky.
We're letting our listeners off the hook that we're not even talking about those today.
Is that right?
Exactly.
We got this really good question from Alessio Zungri.
I'll go ahead and read it.
It's about the verb get.
It says, hello, I follow you from Turin, Italy.
I always have some trouble to understand and use the verb to get.
Too many applications.
Could you help me with some recommendations?
I'd really appreciate it.
Oh my gosh, wow.
So 177 applications, exactly 177 phrasal verbs and beyond that.
What alessio is talking about is we use to get to replace so many other verbs and it was so much more native and natural for us to say get instead of these sort of more formal verbs right, but there is a time and place to be precise, right?
Yes, For sure.
Yeah.
In fact, we recently talked about this on the IELTS Energy podcast, just episode 1328, a couple of weeks ago.
It was called Don't Use Get on IELTS.
Oh, I saw that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Often on the IELTS exam, you shouldn't say get, especially if you're repeating it over and over.
You should use these higher level, less common verbs instead to boost your vocab score.
Yeah.
And for our listeners here, you know, maybe you guys are working in English.
It would make sense to be precise, precision.
Yes.
On the street every day at parties, we use a lot of get around the house.
But when you enter an office presentation, you're probably going to up your game and say something like receive, for example, instead of get.
So we're going to get into that today.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
But first, we want to give a shout out to our reviewers.
Thank you so much, everyone who has reviewed the podcast.
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We love them.
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What should they do right now?
Review I love that idea of having that be your holiday gift to us.
Right, if you would like to get us a present, leave us a review.
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Guys, good stuff yes, absolutely okay, let's dive in here.
We do use the verb get to replace so many verbs, so today we're going to focus on the four most common okay and share some synonyms because, like you said lindsay, you may want to use these alternatives to sound a little more professional, a little more polished, And you might just want to, like our listener wrote in, be a little more clear on when someone says get, what exactly do they mean?
There's lots of options.
Yeah, precision shows professionalism and formality and respect.
So let's get into it.
So the first one, receive, right?
So where do we go here, Aubrey?
Yeah, so wrapped up with this sort of meaning of receiving, there are these other verbs accept receive,
Earn.
So let's give an example for each one using get and the verb that's being replaced.
All right, here we go.
So when it comes to earn, if we're using receive to mean earn, we can say he's getting an award, right.
Yeah, right.
So he is getting an award.
That means he's earning an award, but we often instead will use get.
Yeah, I love that.
What else for accept?
And so for accept or accepted, I got approval for a new project, right?
So that means you accepted this approval.
But we often will say get or, in the past tense, got.
I got approval, oh so just get everywhere.
Getting got everywhere, yeah.
And then another one for receive did you get a receipt?
Meaning after you bought something, did you either print out a receipt or have it sent to your email or text message.
Right exactly, and just normal day-to-day conversation.
You rarely will hear someone say like, did you receive a receipt?
No way, it's so quick and easy.
We use get the time constantly.
Yeah, especially that one would feel very strange.
You've just gone to like like.
Last week I went to Lowe's like 12 times because I was doing some housing projects and I had to get a receipt.
And if someone had been there with me and said, did you receive a receipt when you bought that table, it'd be ridiculous, it would be so strange.
But it is so confusing because they're just, with the sort of the meaning of to receive something, three different verbs you're replacing.
So let's go to the next one here.
The second meaning is buy.
And then sort of wrapped up in the same sort of meaning, we also have purchase or hire.
Oh, my gosh.
Okay, here we go.
So first one, I'm going to get groceries later.
Yeah, using get to mean go and buy, pick up something, anything at the store, whatever.
Or go and get new clothing even.
You could use that for maybe shopping, that kind of shopping.
And there are other verbs here like acquire, right?
It would be like a band nine verb for IELTS or something that would be very impressive at work.
But in just day-to-day conversation, we're going to say get.
I'm going to go get my groceries.
I got to go get my prescription.
Say get over and over.
On this show, All Ears English, we're bringing it down to the human level, the connection level.
And I bet if we were to just... tape record our daily conversations and then transcribe them.
We would see get 177 times in a day.
So here's another one for hire might say, did you get a new babysitter?
And really what you're asking is, did you hire a new babysitter?
But I would for sure say get instead.
Oh my gosh.
Interesting.
Okay.
Good stuff.
All right.
There is a third category here under the bucket of take like retrieve or steal or nab.
Nab, that's a bonus word for today.
I love this word, nab, right?
I'm going to go with this example first.
I said this just the other day.
I got some candy from my daughter's Halloween bag, and I would totally say nab.
I nabbed some candy.
It means steal, but it's a very informal way to say you stole something.
I nabbed it.
Yeah.
I could also add to that, if we're going to create verbs like this, like still nab grab something, we could do another episode on still nab grab.
Like you know, grabbed candy in a sneakily way right, and that is what you have to do as a parent, I'm sure is.
You gotta get some of that candy, exactly right.
But you have to be pretty sneaky about it or that child is going to be angry, so you gotta nab it.
There's a sneakiness involved with the verb.
Now you have to go and like wrap.
I saw on Instagram a meme where someone wrapped Brussels sprouts in the um the truffle chocolate, truffle things, because they're about the same size.
You gotta replace it and take their chocolate, reseal it somehow.
They would be really angry about that.
It's hilarious.
Open it and there's a brussels sprout in there.
Oh, not good, okay.
Coming back up to retrieve right, you could say i'm gonna get the mail and this, for some reason, this verb retrieve bothers me because it makes me think of a dog like I just oh yeah, like a retriever.
Imagine saying I'm going to go retrieve the mail, like really, that's what we're, what we mean when we say I'm going to get the mail.
But we would never say that, or at least very rarely.
Sometimes I do hear it but it annoys me because it feel like I said it feels too formal.
It feels I do hear I don't know where I hear it like written instructions Please retrieve the empty garbage cans on Tuesday morning and bring them back.
It's way too formal.
Right.
Instructions that were sent by, like the city, and they're trying to sound very professional and formal.
Right.
Right.
But I just don't, I don't like it.
I don't like it at all.
What else?
All right.
The last one here for take is take, right?
You might say, can you get him his medicine?
And really what you mean is, can you take him his medicine?
Can you take something to him?
We'll also say get.
Yeah, we could do a whole other episode just on this use of get.
Can you get me my meals on Wednesday evenings because I can't drive?
Lots of uses here.
We use it for both bring, take, right?
All of them just say get instead.
Interesting.
That's another episode.
I'll bring you guys hit follow on the show because we're going to cover these things in 2024.
You don't want to miss them.
Yes.
Our last one is understand or comprehend.
We all often will just say, I get it or I don't get it.
And really what we're saying is I understand or I don't understand.
Yeah, I say it all the time, right?
I get it.
I get it.
It's used to offer empathy, right?
When someone's explaining something that they're struggling with, oh, I totally get it.
Or literally- You just got it, right?
Got it.
Got it.
To say, understood, I understand. get it got it good.
Yes.
Okay, Aubrey roleplay time.
Let's do it.
All right, let's do it.
You are asking me for a favor in this roleplay.
All right.
Hey, can I borrow your car for the weekend?
I was gonna get my mom's but she needs to.
She needs it now.
Yes, I need to get it from the shop.
I took it for an oil change.
Oh, thank you.
I appreciate it.
I got you a gift card and I'll fill up your gas tank.
Oh, you didn't have to do that.
I get it though.
I always do the same whenever I borrow someone's car.
Nice.
Nice.
It's always good if someone does you a favor.
We like to do that.
Like even if someone watered our tree for us where we were gone for a week or two and we tried to get them, like a bottle of wine or something.
It's good to do those little things, you know.
Yeah.
I don't feel so bad for asking the favor.
And yeah, it's just nice to show.
Real appreciation.
I often have to borrow a truck to deliver paintings for my brother.
And every time I always fill the gas tank and then sometimes I'll get him a little gift card too.
Yeah.
That's how you want to let them know like you appreciate it.
Yeah, exactly.
People want to help you if they know that, that you appreciate their help for sure.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
All right.
Let's go through this.
I first used the take meaning to say, Or you said it.
You said I was going to get my mom's meaning.
I was going to take my mom's car, borrow my mom's car.
Yeah.
But she needs it.
So now I'm asking to borrow yours.
Exactly.
And then you said, yes, I need to get it from the shop.
So that means retrieve it.
I need to pick it up.
I need to grab it.
I put retrieve here.
You're like, ew, now I'm going to say pick up.
Don't like that.
I need to pick it up.
I don't know why it rose in the wrong way.
I just don't know why.
It is strange.
I need to retrieve it like a dog going for a frisbee.
It feels like a dog.
Leave retrieve for the dogs.
Yeah, leave retrieve.
Exactly.
That's my philosophy.
If they have something, we leave nothing for the dogs.
That's so funny.
And then what did I say next?
So you said, I got you a gift card, which is saying I bought you a gift card, right?
Or I picked up a gift card for you.
And yeah, we just say, I got it.
I got it for you.
I got you a gift card.
And then you said, oh, you didn't have to do that.
And then you said, I get it though.
And we've talked about though here on All Ears English before.
So check out our old episodes on that, guys.
Meaning you understand, right?
I get it though.
I always do the same, right?
Exactly.
And without that though, it would kind of maybe sound a little strange, right?
I understand or I get it.
That softens it quite a bit to say though.
Yeah, check out those episodes so you can understand how to use though.
Oh my gosh.
I'm not sure if we hit all 177 uses, but we came close.
It feels like we came close here.
Yeah.
There are a lot, right?
So many phrasal verbs, so many verbs that we replace with get.
I totally understand why this listener was confused.
Totally get it.
There's so many meanings.
We totally get it.
Great question.
Hopefully today's tips clarified some of the ways we use, get some of the meanings for it, so you guys can use it with confidence.
Yeah, we're just getting started, guys.
So if you have other questions here around using GET and if you want us to cover other very specific uses again, write your question in your review.
Or you can also email Aubrey, right?
You can email Aubrey at Aubrey at allearsenglish.com.
Let us know that question.
We'll put it on our list, especially if it's a very specific question.
Yeah, absolutely.
Yes.
We love your questions.
Send them in, leave us a review and happy holidays guys.
Yeah.
Anyone else are celebrating.
And I also just want to mention connection here, right?
Because we need the context in which we're speaking matters, right?
Defaulting more to get in your everyday life, your social life parties make sense.
Whereas maybe in the business world, we're upping our game.
Like I said, maybe we're looking for these other words like receive, Right.
Connection.
Exactly.
It's all about connection.
Right.
You you don't want to sound too formal when that's not the situation.
Right.
That does keep you from creating those deep connections.
So, yeah, keep it casual.
Keep it informal when you're chatting with friends and family and even coworkers.
Often we're actually often very informal. with coworkers and colleagues.
Yeah.
That's how we get to that 99 fluency and build our relationships by knowing the context and choosing the right word at the right time.
We're going to get into much more of this next year.
So can't wait.
I'll see you soon, Aubrey.
Have a good one.
See you there.
Bye.
Bye.
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