Catching Things

I hate getting a cold, but I love getting my dog when we play chase. I hate it when I can’t get my bus, but I love it when the heroes get the villains. It’s good when we can get what we go after.

Replacing Verbs

The complicated little verb “get” has many meanings. It can replace a lot of verbs with “get.” Read about one of them in this post.

“Get” = “Catch”

“Get” can be used to mean “catch.” Think about things we try to catch.

I hate getting a cold, but I love getting my dog when we play chase. = I hate catching a cold, but I love catching my dog when we play chase.

Very often, we can replace “catch” with “get.” Here are 2 more examples.

I hate it when i can’t catch my buss, but I love it when the heroes catch the villains. = I hate it when I can’t get my buss, but I love it when the heroes get the villains.

Special Notes

There are 2 special notes I must make. First, replacing “catch” with “get” is informal. So you must use “catch” when you are writing or speaking formally. For example, use “catch” when you are making a formal speech. but when you are talking with friends, you can use “get.” The second special note I must make is that we cannot always replace “catch with get.” We replace “catch” with “get” when we are talking about chasing, catching transportation, catching an illness, or hearing something that a person says. We cannot use it for other situations where we say catch. For example, we must say “Rose and I are gonna catch a movie.” We cannot replace “catch” with “get” in this case.

Your Turn

Have you caught, or “gotten my meaning? Now it’s time for some practice. Do you often get colds or the flue? Do you play tag or chase with your kids and let them get you?