Collocations with get are common English word combinations such as get a job, get permission, get a chance, and get some sleep.
The verb get has several meanings. It can describe receiving something, obtaining an opportunity, understanding a message, or becoming different in some way. For example, get feedback means receive someone’s comments, while get better describes improvement.
Some expressions have meanings that aren’t obvious from the individual words. If someone says they finally got the message, they may mean they understood what another person was suggesting without being told directly.
Common Collocations with Get and Example Sentences
The following expressions cover work, communication, opportunities, everyday activities, and changes in condition. Some are verb + noun collocations, while others are familiar multi-word expressions or grammatical patterns involving get.
Work and Education
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get a job | After several months of applying, Lena got a job restoring antique maps at the city archive. |
| Get a promotion | Nadia got a promotion after successfully leading the factory’s safety review. |
| Get a pay rise / Get a raise | When his responsibilities increased, Elliot got a pay rise to reflect his new role. |
| Get a degree | After studying part-time for five years, Harpreet got a degree in environmental science. |
| Get experience | Volunteering at the animal shelter helped Asher get practical experience handling nervous dogs. |
| Get a scholarship | Celia got a scholarship that covered her university tuition for a year. |
| Get hired | After a successful practical assessment, Martin got hired as a bicycle mechanic. |
Get a pay rise is particularly common in British English, while get a raise is the usual American English expression for receiving an increase in pay.
Information, Communication, and Understanding
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get a call | Tomas got a call from the repair shop just as he was leaving the station. |
| Get a message | The trail guide got a message warning that the bridge ahead was closed. |
| Get an answer | Despite contacting the supplier twice, Bina still hadn’t got an answer about the replacement part. |
| Get feedback | The designer got detailed feedback from the test group before changing the layout. |
| Get advice | Before signing the lease, Priya got advice from a housing adviser. |
| Get the message | When the café owner pointed at the closing sign a second time, the remaining customers got the message. |
| Get the joke | Everyone laughed at the cartoon, but Finn didn’t get the joke until his sister explained the reference. |
| Get the impression that | When the shopkeeper started covering the display cabinets, Iris got the impression that the shop was about to close. |
Opportunities, Permission, and Help
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get a chance to do something | At the end of the demonstration, visitors got a chance to try the printing press themselves. |
| Get an opportunity to do something | After joining the sailing club, Theo got an opportunity to compete in a regional race. |
| Get permission to do something | The photographers got permission to enter the old greenhouse before it reopened. |
| Get approval for something | The homeowners got approval for an extension after submitting revised plans. |
| Get access to something | After completing the registration process, Mina got access to the company’s online training materials. |
| Get help with something | When the heating system stopped working, Amina got help with the repairs from a qualified technician. |
Everyday Activities and Services
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get a ticket | By booking early, Nikhil got a ticket for the theatre’s opening performance. |
| Get a refund | After discovering the duplicate charge, Marco got a refund from the ticket office. |
| Get a haircut | Eva got a haircut before beginning her new apprenticeship. |
| Get a taxi | With the buses suspended, the hikers struggled to get a taxi from the remote village. |
| Get some rest | After spending the morning moving furniture, Rosa decided to get some rest before dinner. |
| Get some sleep | Despite the engine noise, Amelia managed to get some sleep on the overnight coach. |
Experiences and Common Expressions
| Collocation | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get a shock | I got a shock when a fox suddenly jumped onto the garden wall beside me. |
| Get a cold | Dalia got a cold during the school holidays and missed her cousin’s concert. |
| Get into trouble | The campers got into trouble for lighting a fire outside the designated area. |
| Get the hang of something | By the third lesson, Noor had got the hang of threading the loom without twisting the yarn. |
Changes in Condition or Situation
| Expression | Example sentence |
|---|---|
| Get ready | The stage crew got ready for the performance by checking the lights and arranging the final props. |
| Get better | After several weeks of practice, Leo got better at reading sheet music. |
| Get worse | The cracks in the footpath got worse after the winter frost. |
| Get nervous | Meera gets nervous before speaking to a large audience, even when she knows the subject well. |
| Get dressed | Amira got dressed in the dark to avoid waking her roommate. |
| Get married | After ten years together, Ellis and Rowan got married at the town hall. |
These expressions include different grammatical patterns.
Get nervous, get better, and get worse illustrate a common use of get meaning become. Expressions such as get dressed and get married contain participial forms and describe entering a new state.
How the Meaning Changes with Get
Some expressions with get look almost identical but describe different situations. Others have alternatives involving find, have, or take.
Get a Message or Get the Message?
Compare these sentences:
Daniel got a message from his sister explaining that the evening train had been cancelled.
He received a message.
After Daniel interrupted the discussion several times, his colleague stopped speaking and looked at him. Daniel finally got the message.
Here, Daniel understood what his colleague was communicating indirectly.
Get the message can have an idiomatic meaning, but it can also describe receiving a particular message.
I got the message you sent yesterday.
In this sentence, the speaker is simply confirming receipt.
A similar understanding meaning appears in get the joke:
Once Priya understood the reference to the old television programme, she finally got the joke.
The expression means understanding why something is supposed to be funny.
Get a Ticket: Admission or Penalty?
The meaning of get a ticket depends on the situation.
Nadia got a ticket for the evening concert after another customer cancelled their booking.
She obtained admission to an event.
Now compare:
Oliver got a parking ticket after leaving his car in a restricted parking area.
Here, he received an official notice concerning a parking violation, normally involving a penalty.
The noun ticket and the context tell us whether the expression refers to admission or a penalty.
Get Access or Have Access?
Both expressions concern the ability or permission to use something, but they can describe different stages.
After the administrator approved her account, Nina got access to the company’s design software.
She obtained access.
Nina now has access to the software whenever she needs it.
She already possesses that access.
Get access to something commonly describes obtaining access, while have access to something describes the resulting situation.
The same distinction can apply to permission: get permission describes receiving approval, while have permission describes already having it.
Get a Job, Find a Job, or Look for a Job?
These expressions overlap, but they do not always tell us the same thing.
After completing her apprenticeship, Sofia got a job at a furniture restoration company.
Sofia obtained employment.
After weeks of searching, Sofia found a job that suited her training and interests.
Find a job can describe discovering or successfully securing a position. In many contexts, find a job and get a job are interchangeable.
Now compare:
Sofia was looking for a job throughout the summer.
This means she was searching for employment. It does not tell us whether she succeeded.
Get Some Sleep, Get to Sleep, or Get Some Rest?
These expressions are closely related, but they focus on different things.
After the long journey, Harriet finally got some sleep.
She slept for a period of time.
Now compare:
Although Harriet was exhausted, the noise from the neighbouring room made it difficult for her to get to sleep.
Get to sleep means manage to fall asleep, particularly when doing so is difficult or takes time.
Get some rest is broader:
Harriet turned off her phone and lay down to get some rest before the evening meeting.
She may sleep, but she might simply relax or stop working for a while.
Get a Chance or Take a Chance?
Get a chance means obtain an opportunity, while take a chance means act despite uncertainty or risk.
Isabel got a chance to exhibit her photographs at a local gallery and took a chance by presenting a collection unlike anything she had shown before.
Using Collocations with Get Correctly
Some expressions with get take nouns and objects, others need particular prepositions, and some describe becoming different or arranging for something to happen.
Get with Nouns and Complete Patterns
When get means receive or obtain, it is commonly followed by a noun phrase.
Theo got a reply from the publisher.
The family got a refund for the cancelled booking.
Other combinations have more specific patterns.
| Complete pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| Get advice from someone | The tenants got advice from a housing specialist. |
| Get permission to do something | The researchers got permission to examine the archived documents. |
| Get approval for something | The shop owner got approval for the building alterations. |
| Get access to something | Students got access to the recordings through their school accounts. |
| Get a chance to do something | The audience got a chance to ask questions after the talk. |
| Get the impression that something is true | We got the impression that the event had been postponed. |
In the last expression, that introduces a clause rather than functioning as a preposition.
Some nouns used with get are uncountable.
Incorrect: We got an advice from the instructor.
Correct: We got some advice from the instructor.
Likewise, we normally say get permission and get access, not get a permission or get an access in these meanings.
Get Home or Get to Work?
When get means arrive, home commonly follows directly without to.
We got home just before the storm began.
Other destinations usually take to:
The delivery driver got to work before the warehouse opened.
The children got to school before the first bell.
The train got to the station ten minutes late.
Words such as here and there also follow get without to when referring to arrival:
We got there before the doors opened.
Get to work can have another meaning: begin working.
As soon as the guests left, the kitchen staff got to work cleaning the dining room.
Here, the staff started an activity rather than arrived at a workplace.
Get Ready, Get Better, and Other Changes
One common use of get is to describe a change from one state to another.
Compare:
The performers are getting ready for the concert.
They are preparing.
The performers are ready for the concert.
They are already prepared.
The same broad pattern appears in:
The weather got worse as the afternoon went on.
After a few lessons, Hannah got more confident about driving in busy traffic.
The injured bird got better after several weeks of care.
Get better can describe improvements in health, ability, or a situation.
When talking about health, feel better is another common expression:
After resting for a while, Daniel felt better.
Feel better focuses on how someone feels, while get better can describe a broader process of improvement. Both can be natural when discussing recovery.
Expressions such as get dressed and get married also describe changes, but their participial forms differ from straightforward get + adjective combinations.
The children got dressed before breakfast.
The couple got married during a small family ceremony.
Get Hired, Get Paid, and Get Something Done
The verb get appears in two useful constructions involving past participles.
Get + past participle can form a passive construction, often called the get-passive. The subject undergoes or receives the action.
After two interviews, Naomi got hired by a local engineering company.
The contractors got paid once the work had been inspected.
These are alternatives to passive constructions such as was hired and were paid. The get-passive is particularly common in informal and conversational English.
A different construction is get + object + past participle. It can describe arranging for something to be done.
Lucy got her hair cut at a salon near her office.
Compare:
Lucy got a haircut before the wedding.
Both sentences can describe the same event, but their structures differ. In got a haircut, haircut is a noun. In got her hair cut, her hair is the object followed by the past participle cut.
The second construction also appears in:
The family got their roof repaired before the rainy season.
Tomas got his passport renewed before booking his flight.
Here, the subjects arranged for the work to be done. In other contexts, get + object + past participle can describe something that happens without being deliberately arranged, so it is not limited to paid services.
Collocations with Get and Phrasal Verbs with Get
Expressions such as get a job, get some rest, and get permission differ from phrasal verbs such as get over, get along, and get away with. Phrasal verbs involve particles or prepositions that contribute to their meaning and grammatical behaviour.
For a fuller explanation of these constructions, see phrasal verbs with get.
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