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Get or go?

Get and go have similar meanings, when talking about travel or motion. When we use get, we emphasise arrival:

  • We’ll phone you as soon as we get to Rome.

  • Not: We’ll phone you as soon as we go to Rome.

  • The thing is, he missed the bus and got to school late and missed part of the match.

  • Not: … and went to school late and …

We use get on and get off not go on and go off for buses, trains, planes:

  • When I got on the plane, there was someone sitting in my seat.

  • Not: When I went on the plane …

  • Liam will be waiting for me when I get off the train.

  • Not: … when I go off the train.

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Get up means ‘leave your bed in the morning’; go up means ‘go to a higher place or position’:

  • What time do we have to get up tomorrow?
  • Not: What time do we have to go up tomorrow?

Get and go are both used to mean ‘become’, but they combine with different adjectives. We often use get with words like dark, light and late; we use go with colours and words with negative associations such as mad, bald, bad:

  • It’s getting dark now so be careful.

  • Not: … going dark …

  • He’s only 30 and he’s going bald.

  • Not: … and he’s getting bald.

  • We left the milk in the sun too long and it’s gone bad.

  • Not: … and it’s got bad.

However, with some adjectives such as old, sick, tired and ill, we use get:

  • He got very tired walking to the match in such a large crowd.
  • Not: He went very tired walking …