Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: "To go" or "To get"?

Salve a tutti!
Gentilmente, qualcuno saprebbe dirmi qual è la differenza tra i due verbi
in oggetto? In quali casi si usa "to get" in luogo di "to go"?
TIA
-- 
Ciao! Soar.
"How can we soar with the eagles if we are surrounded by turkeys?"
[Sugar]

 in oggetto? In quali casi si usa "to get" in luogo di "to go"?
"to get" should be a little more informal and versatile than "to go" is. 
For instance, you can say "It was dark by the time she got home" where 
"got" could mean "went", "arrived", "came", etc...
Kiuhnm


"Go" di base significa andare, cioè un movimento di allontanamento da
chi parla o che si svolge lontano da chi parla. Ci sono poi usi
idiomatici che puoi tranquillamente guardare su un dizionario.
"Get" credo sia il verbo con più significati al mondo ... (stima
personale). Può significare arrivare, ottenere, diventare - ma ci sono
talmente tanti usi idiomatici e tanti phrasal verbs che non è certo
possibile elencarli qui (ma c'è sempre il dizionario per questo.....)
Non mi pare che i due siano mai completamente sinonimi, perché, benché
anche get possa dare l'idea di movimento, ha più senso di "arrivare"
che di "andare" e quindi la differenza è la stessa che c'è in italiano
tra i due.
Claudia

 tra i due.
According to the Oxford Dictionary it also means "to go". But, after 
all, "to go" can also mean "to arrive".
Kiuhnm

 all, "to go" can also mean "to arrive".
To arrive or, better, to reach:
"They went to the end of the world".
Kiuhnm

Non mi pare che i due siano mai completamente sinonimi, perché, benché
anche get possa dare l'idea di movimento, ha più senso di "arrivare"
che di "andare" e quindi la differenza è la stessa che c'è in italiano
tra i due.
Non penso che questo sia una buon idea pensare che "to get" vuol dire "to 
go" o "to arrive". "To get" non significa "to go", e non significa "to 
arrive", ma significa "to get". "To get" può avere diverse connotazioni, la 
connotazione dipende dal contesto, ma insomma significa "trarre", tirare 
muovendo o portando qualcosa o qualcuno da un luogo all'altro. Quando una 
persona "gets home" muove se stessa da dov'è a sua casa. Quando una persona 
"gets sick" porta la salute da buona a male. Quando una persona "gets a new 
car" trasferisce il possedimento della macchina da qualcuno a se stessa. 
Forse questo paragone non serve tutti, ma pensare a "to go" o "to arrive" è 
come il paragone d'elettricità in filo e d'acqua in tubo; è al fondo 
sbagliato.

 sbagliato.
Soar asked when the English use "to get" in place of "to go". Your 
objection would be appropriate if we were talking of the general 
differences between "to get" and "to go".
IMHO, Kiuhnm

 differences between "to get" and "to go".
My suggestion is not equal to an objection.
Every subsequent post is not equal to a direct response to only the content
of the original post.
My response to Claudia is equal to a suggestion that it might be more
helpful to think of "to get" in a broader sense that is relevant to the verb
itself than to try to relate it to another English verb. I submit that using
this approach is closer to the unconscious association method used by a
native speaker than would be the mental substitution of another verb and its
treasury of connotations.
Simply put, we all indulge in mental gymnastics when learning how to use a
word, and this suggestion might help some people to grok "to get". You may
substitute "understand" for "grok" in the previous sentence even if they
aren't equal.

 su "go there".
La mia sensibilità di non madrelingua (che ha letto molto in inglese, però,
naturalmente) mi dice che nella prima si sottolinea l'importanza di
raggiungere in fretta quel 'there' (Sbrigati ad arrivare lì) e nella
seconda si invita semplicemente a fare la riparazione, o a sistemare la
faccenda (senza particolari preoccupazioni riguardo al raggiungimento del
luogo)...
Qualcun altro?
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

 treasury of connotations.
Honestly, when I see "get" I /don't/ translate it into "go", "arrive". 
It's simply "get". Maybe the many hours of reading are paying off :-)
But the question of *Soar* put me in a predicament: how could I try to 
answer such a question without delve in the limbo of connotations and 
synonyms?
Kiuhnm

 wrote in message
news:1nfylj9hkjtp4$.o9jslg2hy8t5.dlg@40tude.net...

The imperative in the stand-alone phrase "Get there and fix it" seems a
little strange to my ears, although "get" is often used in other imperative
phrases, sometimes alone and sometimes in combination with prepositions to
form phrasal verbs.
"Get away from the window!".
"Get out of here!".
"Get me a cup of coffee!".
"Get to it!".
"Get lost!".
"Get thee to a nunnery!".
"Get him to school on time, or he'll be late for the exam!".
It wouldn't sound strange to me to hear "Will you have time to get there and
iix it before he gets home?".
"You can';t get there from here".
"What is the fastest way to get to Rome from here?"
"I don't get what you're saying".
There are many, many idiomatic phrases with "get", with many different
meanings, and many are enumerated here. When you get a moment to spare,
maybe you can take a look at them, and get back to us. :>)
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/get?view=uk
Joe from Massachusetts
A "getter" is material added to a vacuum tube to absorb ("get") unwanted
oxygen, thus improving the vacuum inside the tube.

 Kiuhnm
Roger
-- 
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

 non ha lo stesso significato?
I believe so.
Anyway I must admit this use of "go" looks more like an exception to the 
rule. Incidentally, we Italians say something similar: "Andare in capo 
al mondo".
Kiuhnm

>> Qualcun altro?
Not for the first time , I endorse Anna's sensibilita' .
Though examples may be manufactured ,  I can't think (as Claudia suggested) 
of a single naturally-occuring case where native speakers would see 'go' and 
'get' as genuine alternatives ; but it would be impossible to provide any 
general guideline to explain their instinctive choice . Experience of usage 
is indeed the only answer .
Mike 

 is indeed the only answer .
I think TtIM's explanation can be useful as a "general guideline", when he
says that <<"get" significa "trarre", tirare muovendo o portando qualcosa o
qualcuno da un luogo all'altro>>. 
Insomma è più un "far andare" che un andare, più un "far arrivare" che un
arrivare. Mi rendo conto che è molto spannometrico, ma mi sembra che renda
l'idea.
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

On 9 Ott, 20:42, "Tony the Ice Man"

Sorry Tony for nor replying earlier but I think you misunderstood what
I was saying. I never said that "get" ONLY means "arrive", nor was I
implying that you should always be able to translate a word or to find
the perfect synonym. I said <<ha *PIU'* senso di "arrivare" che di
"andare" >>
Also, I DID say at the beginning of my post that "get" has so many
meanings which depend on context that only a good dictionary can (try
to) give them all.
Since the initiator of the thread asked about the difference between
"go" and "get" , I thought I should talk about its use when it
describes a movement.
I feel that "I got home at 8" is more similar to "I arrived home at 8"
than to "I went home at 8" ;  not an enormous difference, I know, but
doesn't "get" (in THIS sentence) put more of an accent on the point
(or time) of arrival while "go" is more about "moving" towards home?
Couldn't "I went home..." also be used to mean "I left work at 8
heading home" ? I'm using question marks on purpose because, as Anna
put it, a native speaker's feel for a language can never be totally
acquired, though I can assure you that most of the English I know is
more "felt" than translated in my head. I'm also far from being like
certain "characters" in this NG who think they can find the one and
only translation for words (e.g. music genres.... ) in spite of what
dictionaries say.
"Get" is a bit like "take" in that it escapes translations,  it could
mean ... how do you say "tutto e il contrario di tutto" ? :-)
And yet you have to try and give someone an idea, especially if you're
teaching and don't have time to show all the possible uses and all the
possible contexts. That's all I was trying to do here and what I
always try to do at school.
Ciao
Claudia


"Get down (up)(over)(in)(out)(under)(behind)(around)there and fix it" all
sound great, but just "Get there" by itself lacks something. If it were "Get
there and fix it as soon as you can", that would be a different story, since
"get there" is not standing alone.
Joe from Massachusetts


When native speakers of any language choose a particular turn of phrase and
reject another, they are using rules to determine their preference or
abhorrence, but if you ask them what the rules might be, they often will
have no idea what the rules are. That is why "come si dice?", addressed to
those whose opinions I respected,  was more important to me than complex
explanations in grammar books while I was learning Italian.
Joe from Massachusetts
Joe from Massachusetts
Joe from Massachusetts


Joe from Massachusetts

muovendo o portando qualcosa o qualcuno da un luogo all'altro. 
A me sembra (da semiprofano) che il termine italiano corretto, sebbene
un po' in disuso, sia "attingere" - ovviamente non nel senso più noto
di "attingere acqua", che corrisponde sia a "trarre"  che a
"raggiungere" che, figurativamente, a "ottenere".
Preferisco "attingere" perché il senso di "trarre" è più legato al
portare verso di sé, mentre, a mio parere, "attingere" indica
maggiormente una qualità o uno stato.
R.
-- 
Quando il gioco si fa duro
i sardi iniziano a giocare

 explanations in grammar books while I was learning Italian.
I believe that's the best method! :)
Your very good Italian is there to prove it.
-- 
Ciao,
Anna

 explanations in grammar books while I was learning Italian.
I think it depends on the regularity of the matter we are dealing with. 
If the data is very regular and redundant then you should go for the 
compressed version (i.e. the rule), otherwise you should stick to the 
original one (i.e. the examples) ;-)
Kiuhnm


Perché? Perché!   :>)
Joe from Massachusetts

 "con tutta calma", "senza fretta"?
I'd say "at your convenience".
Kiuhnm


when you get around to it
Joe from Massachusettts

 >> >>
«Go is used to talk about a whole movement.
Get is used when we are thinking mainly about the end of a movement -
the arrival.»
Swan, 223
Joe from Massachusetts