Get it?
Mike from Traverse City
asked if it’s ever correct to use the verb got. Hypercorrectionists have a field day with
this one. Some go so far as to say never use
get or got, but as one caller pointed out, the three absolutely legitimate principal
parts for that verb are get/got/gotten.
At the same time, we have to acknowledge that this verb is rife with ambiguity.
Get is the present
tense. I get your point. Add the
words shall or will, and you’re dealing with the future: I will get groceries while I’m in town. Use the word get as a
command, and you’re using the imperative form: Get real!
Got is the simple past
tense: I got her point immediately.
But it’s also an alternative past participle form: He hasn’t got a clue. We also use it to express necessity: You have got to get a job! But it can express incredulity, too: You have got to be kidding!
Gotten is the past
participle form: I have gotten goose bumps
just listening to your experience. Alternatively, we could say, “I got goose bumps just listening to your
experience.” “Have gotten” seems to be more common in American usage than
in British usage. But the line between colloquial use and formal use is often
less than boldly drawn.
It would
not be Standard English to say, “You got
to slow down” if you mean “You must
slow down” or “You have got to slow
down.” Another common use of “got” that is colloquial, not standard, is exemplified
by the advertising slogan, “Got milk?”
Formal use would be “Do you have milk?”
or “Have you got milk?”
Equally
common colloquial use is, “Hey,
got a minute?” instead of “Do you have a minute” or “Have you got a minute?”
“I got
drenched in the thunder storm” “is just fine. “I got a problem with that” is not. Then there’s a large, gray
area. “I
got to go to the show” is OK if you mean, “I had the opportunity to attend the show.” But it’s wrong if you mean, “I must leave now in order to attend the
show.”
Finally, some people object to the technically correct “You’ve got mail” as redundant,
insisting that “You have mail” is
sufficient. To some degree that’s defensible, but “You got mail” is not.
Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts Dictionary, 2nd edition
Nook edition
Nook edition
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