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  • Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com, and today we're going to look at the verb "to get".

  • Now, we've looked at this verb in other lessons, but that's because it is used so much, in

  • so many different ways that it does need several lessons to cover the different ways that it's

  • used. And we have 11 expressions here which are a little bit more difficult to understand.

  • If you translate each word individually, you probably still might not understand what the

  • meaning really is, because these are, like, metaphorical or idiomatic expressions which

  • really need to be explained in other words. So, let's have a look and I think you'll see

  • what I mean by that. Okay.

  • So, the first one is: "To get out of hand". If things get out of hand... Well, you think:

  • "Hand. Out of hand?" It means things get out of control. So if you imagine you're holding

  • something with your hand, you're controlling it; but if things get out of hand, they go

  • free, anything could happen then. So, if you're losing control of something, you could say:

  • "Things are getting out of hand." Okay.

  • Secondly: "To get rid of something". This word "rid", it means to throw something away

  • usually or give something away that you don't want anymore. "Let's get rid of it. You know,

  • that old chair, it's broken. It's just taking up space in the room; we can't sit on it,

  • we can't get it repaired. Let's get rid of it." Okay. Throw it away, give it away, just

  • leave it on the street, some people do, they leave all sorts of things on the street, and

  • the local council have to come and pick them up. So, to get rid of something, okay, that

  • you don't want anymore.

  • Next one: "To get used to something" is when it's a new thing or maybe a new person, "to

  • get used to someone", to get used to a new person. If you're working in an office, a

  • new person starts working there, maybe they're a bit different from normal, from your other

  • colleagues for some reason, you have to get used to them; their personality, the things

  • they say, their way of working. So, you have to get used to them. Or to get used to some

  • situation, some new situation. Okay.

  • "To get back home", so "get back" is a phrasal verb, verb plus preposition. We're here at

  • a party, but we're a bit tired, it's not very exciting, we want to get back home. We'd rather

  • be at home; we would prefer to be at home. "Let's get back home, shall we? It's late

  • anyway." So, that's fairly straightforward.

  • "To get hold of something" is just to hold, to get hold of. Maybe it could be in a situation

  • where somebody is falling down a cliff or something, they could be falling off a building,

  • and to stop themselves from falling, they need to get hold of something, a curtain in

  • a window or a tree growing on the cliff, or whatever it is, get hold of something before

  • you fall right down a very long way. So: "Oh, I've got to get a hold of something." Okay?

  • "To get going". "Get going", "We need to get going". "We need to go", but it's a way of

  • saying: We need to get going. We need to start, start travelling, or to get started on a job

  • that you're doing. Right?

  • Another phrasal verb: "To get together for a chat", for example, or to get together for

  • a meal, all sorts of reasons. So: "To get together" is to meet someone, a friend, relative.

  • "Let's get together next week for a chat, for a talk, for a meal. Just get together

  • because we haven't seen each other for a while." Okay.

  • "To get a move on", if you're, you know, it's time we got a move on, we need to get moving,

  • either you've got to be somewhere else, we need to leave here and start travelling to

  • get a move on. You've got to move forward. All right.

  • "To get on in your career", "to get on", another phrasal verb, is to progress, maybe promotions,

  • new positions, learning new skills. You're getting on earning a higher salary, you're

  • getting on making progress in your career, in your job, your profession.

  • This kind of getting on, though, has a different meaning. This is when somebody is getting

  • older. I've put "She", but it could equally be "He". If they're getting on a bit, it's

  • a way of saying: "Oh, you know, they're getting quite old now", not that that's a bad thing,

  • but maybe, I don't know. Possibly for the kind of job where you need to be very fit,

  • physically fit, or maybe a ballet dancer, for example, they can't continue being a ballet

  • dancer probably from the age of 50 or 60; they might do training of other ballet dancers,

  • but: "She's getting on a bit now." We can't give her the main lead in Swan Lake anymore.

  • It would need to be somebody younger. So, to be getting on a bit, being a bit old for

  • whatever the purpose is.

  • Okay, and then finally, another phrasal verb: "To get away with something" is if you've

  • done something wrong, maybe you made a mistake at work, but nobody notices, and nobody else

  • gets blamed for it probably either, but nobody has noticed that mistake. So you don't get

  • punished for it, you don't get being told off by your boss, your boss doesn't get angry

  • with you because your boss doesn't know what the mistake was. So, you got away with it.

  • Everything's okay, everything's continuing as if that thing that you did didn't happen.

  • So, that's our eleven examples, there. I hope that's been helpful just to show a few ways

  • that the verb "to get" is used in a more complex way. If you'd like to do a quiz on this, please

  • go to the website: www.engvid.com, and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Okay. Bye.

Hi. I'm Gill at www.engvid.com, and today we're going to look at the verb "to get".

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