Some verbs can always be replaced by to get
As we saw in the first exercise, 'to get' can be used to both replace many verbs in English and keep their meaning. An example of this, is the verb 'to buy', e.g.
'I bought/got a dog at the pet shop last week.'
This verb can always be replaced with 'to get'. But there are of many verbs in which this doesn't happen.
But not others
One of the things that people learning English should know about verbs in English, is that one single verb can have many different meanings. Many of the verbs that 'to get' can replace also have different meanings. Below we will see an example of this:
'I took the train to work this morning.'
'I took two pills this morning.'
In the first sentence, 'to take' has a meaning of 'to travel' by public transport. In the second sentence, 'to take' has a meaning of 'to consume' medicine.
Each meaning of the verb is completely different. And 'to get' can only be used to replace 'to take' in the first sentence. So you can say:
'I got the train to work this morning.'
And the meaning would be exactly the same, 'I took the train to work this morning'.
It is not possible to use 'to get' with the meaning of 'to take/consume' medicine. If you did replace 'to take' with 'to get', like in the below example:
'I got two pills this morning.'
People hearing it would think that you either 'received' or 'bought' the two pills instead.
And this is the same for many of the other verbs that can be replaced by 'to get'. For some of their meanings, you cannot use or replace it with 'to get'.
So now do the below quiz to learn with which meaning of a verb you can and cannot use 'to get'.