So you think you know "get". "Get" is easy! Everyone knows how to use "get"! Trust me,
you do not know how to use "get"! Well... maybe you do...
Let's find out! My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here
is all you need to know about "get" for the B2 First
Cambridge exam!
Let's start with the three most basic uses of
"get". Get plus noun. I went to the cafe and got a coffee.
I got a car for my birthday. I got a new subscriber yesterday and
I'll get a new one today. You! Yes! Go on then what are you watching
this for? Subscribe! What does get mean in these sentences?
To obtain. Simple. Get plus noun means obtain. Often students get confused
between get and take. Don't use take instead of
get. For example I went to the bar and I got
a coffee. This means I bought a coffee. If you take a coffee
it means you're stealing it or you're taking it aggressively. Give me my coffee!
You took the coffee: you obtained it in an
aggressive way. So please say "get" not "take".
Yeah? Yes! Get plus adjective. I got pretty fat
over the summer, look at my cheeks! One day I'll get rich and famous.
If you drink too much you will get drunk. What does get mean in these sentences?
To become. A change of state. This is also pretty simple.
Get plus adjective: get means you become that adjective. Alright, next!
Get plus preposition. Get in a car. Get out a car.
Get on a boat. Get off a plane. Get up in the morning. Get down
from a cliff. Get away from an angry dog that wants to kill you!
This is a bit more complicated. What do all of these expressions have in common?
Movement! Movement? Movement? Movement! Now of course there are many
exceptions to this! There are more than a hundred phrasal verbs with get
and not all of them are to do with movement.
But as a general rule: get plus preposition
is movement of some sort. For example you can "get
over" a problem. if you "get over" a problem it means you have passed the
problem and now you're on the other side of the
problem and you look back on the problem and it
does not affect you emotionally...
You have recovered from the problem! For example:
Two years ago my girlfriend left me, I was crying
every day for one year. Oh! Terrible period in my life! But now
I have got over it. I think about her and... Bad example. Now let's get to some
more advanced uses! Ah, see!? "get to" somewhere or something!
It means to arrive. So again we have get plus a preposition
and it's movement, yeah? I'll get to you in five minutes.
I will arrive to see you. Let's get to some more complex uses of "get": we are
walking on our journey to discover all about "get"
and now I have arrived at the advanced uses of "get".
Be metaphorical yeah? Not everything has to be literal!
To get to do something. Hey Bruce if you treat me well
you might get to go on a date with me someday!
I would rather eat my own face, Monica! What do you think Monica was saying here?
If you treat me well you might get to go "get to go" on a date with me... hmm...
Um I meant that if you treat me well you might have the opportunity to go on
a date with me someday! Yeah I understood
and it's disgusting! If you get to do something it means you have the
opportunity to do something. In London I got to see
Big Ben! Wow! So exciting! I am so happy that you got to see this
fantastic video! And now you can subscribe to the channel
and leave a comment and say "wow great video! I love you, Toby!" Cheers! And
I want to get to know you better! This is very common if you "get
to know someone" it means you spend some time with them, you
talk to them, you understand who they are for the first time. Um how did you get to
know Bruce? Well, yeah, I found him under a bridge. Oh
shut up! Have got to do something. If you have
got to do something it means you must do something. I cannot spend too much
time talking about "have got" because I have
got to move on to the next structure. Brilliant! Just thought of that now, all
on my own!
To get doing something. Me and my friends, we went to this bar and I saw this
really cute guy and we got talking and you'll never believe what he
said... What do you think "get" means here? Well it
means "start". If you "get doing" something
it means you start doing it. For example: come on it's late let's get working!
Quick the bus is leaving let's get running!
This is me running... To get something done. And now
for the causatives. This is where it gets a bit
trickier. I've got my hair done and I've got my nails done,
and I've got my... Uh then Monica why haven't you
got your beard shaved? Yeah? Bruce I've told you before it's not a
beard, it's my skin! Shut up! If you get something done
it means you arrange for someone else to do it
for you. For example: you don't cut your own hair (well maybe you do but
now no! For this example you do not cut your hair)
instead you get your hair cut by a hair dresser. If your car breaks
down you don't fix it yourself (well maybe you
do but today no!) Instead you get it fixed
by a mechanic. The grammar is subject plus get plus object plus past
participle. If you want to say who does the action
you can add by plus an object pronoun but
it's not always necessary. If you get your hair cut
it's probably by a hairdresser, so you don't need to say
"I got my hair cut yesterday by the hairdresser".
Why? Why!? I don't need that information. To get someone or something to do
something. I was really bad at school actually...
And I always got my friend to do my French homework for me and this
is why after seven years of French lessons I
speak zero french. It's embarrassing. It's
embarrassing... "I got my friend to do my homework"
So what does that mean? It means I persuaded
my friend to do my homework. I gave him money,
I told him it would improve his French, I told him that in the future I would
make SMASH English videos and he would love them.
"I couldn't get my computer to turn on". Oh no! Here we have an object.
Can you persuade an object? Well not literally but if you wanted to
persuade a laptop to turn on what would you do?
Well, maybe you would press the on button. If that didn't work maybe you would
charge it. If that didn't work maybe you would tap
it and say "turn on! Turn on! You stupid laptop!".
All of this is like persuasion. So we can also use
"get someone or something to do something" with
objects as well. And with that we are finished. Now you know everything
you need to know about get for the B2 First Cambridge exam! If
you liked the video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if you
haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this
was SMASH English!
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