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Friday, November 8, 2024

Get it done

 When Kim heard, "do your nails" today, she said that she often heard, "get" not "do" at work. She is correct.  We often use get with a past participle form of a verb (regular ---ed/irregular-3rd column) to say that someone else is doing something for us. 

(Official grammar name for this word pattern is passive causative.  You can officially use have instead of get, but using have for passive causative is a bad pattern to practice before you are good at ALL the verb tenses. Anyway, get is more common for speaking in this area.)

My daughter gets her nails done for all the holidays.  I only got my nails done for my wedding.

I don't fix my car.  I get my car fixed by Backlick Road Service Station or Community Car Care.

I don't cut my hair.  I get my hair cut at a beautician.

My mother doesn't clean her house.  She gets it cleaned.

I don't repair watches.  I get my watch repaired at Silver Dolphin.

I brush my teeth twice a day, and I also go to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned three times a year.

I rarely wash my care and I rarely get my car washed. My car is pretty dirty. (Pretty as adverb=mostly)

The past participle verbs in these examples do NOT show time.  The form of get shows the verb tense. 

Examples: I am getting my car fixed now.  I will get my car washed tomorrow.  My dad used to get his shoes shined every month.  Mark gets his car serviced four times a year. We got the kitchen floor replaced last month.  My mother never goes to Zales Jewelers because when she got her engagement ring cleaned there, they lost her diamond and offered her a much cheaper stone.

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