Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2023)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Words / Get and become

Get and become

January 15, 2014 - pdf

The word get and become are sometimes interchangeable. However, get has several different meanings. Become, on the other hand, is mainly used to talk about a development of some kind.

Get is one of the commonest words in English. It is mainly used in informal English. Some people even believe that get should not be used in formal speech and writing. That probably doesn’t make much sense, though.

Get/become + adjective

Both get and become can be followed by adjectives. In this case, they both indicate growth or development of some sort.

Compare the following sentences.

She got angry when she realized that he was lying. (Informal)

She became angry when she realized that he was lying. (Formal)

I got / became interested in classical music when I was in high school.

As I get older I get more optimistic.

As I become older I become more optimistic.

It got colder and colder the higher we climbed.

It became increasingly cold as we climbed higher.

Become + noun

Get cannot be used with a noun to indicate development or change. In this case, only become is possible.

She became a nun. (BUT NOT She got a nun.)

Get + noun/pronoun

When get is followed by a noun or a pronoun, it means ‘obtain’, ‘fetch’, ‘receive’ or ‘acquire’. Become cannot be used with this meaning.

I got a call from Betty. (= I received a call from Betty.)

She gets $300 a week. (= She earns $300 a week.)

Could you get me a glass of water? (= Could you fetch me a glass of water?)

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,267,772 
647,105 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Animal Idioms September 18, 2023
  • Less vs. Fewer September 17, 2023
  • If, Unless, Providing, As Long As September 17, 2023
  • Identifying Conditionals September 16, 2023
  • Conjunctions Quiz September 14, 2023
  • English Vocabulary Exercise September 13, 2023
  • Prefixes Exercise September 12, 2023
  • Tenses Quiz September 10, 2023
  • Gap Filling Vocabulary Exercise September 8, 2023

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2023 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap