Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / October 2003

Not so, I'm afraid, "I have got a big car" for possession is fine at
least in BrE:-

"I've (have) got a really old car";
"She's (has) got a nice face";
or indeed
"I've (have) got a lovely bunch of coconuts"
or figuratively
"They haven't got a chance".

All of these involve possession, not 'giving or receiving'.

Kat, "I got an 'A'" is fine - it means say, 'my teacher gave me full
marks'.  But the verb 'get' involves movement; something comes to the
subject of the verb. "I got my son with me" is wrong because the
preposition 'with' suggests a state without movement; at the time of
the verb father and son were already together.  Compare these
sentences:-

"I got my son from school"
"I got my son an ice cream"
or that 'have got' possesion form:-
"I have got my son with me"

Basically, don't get the verb 'to get' meaning "give or receive",
confused with "have" or "have got" for possession, and the verb 'get'
doesn't usually go with the preposition 'with'.

Best regards
DC Cat

No - "I have got" is perfectly OK - indeed it's often used in more
formal writing, although "I have" is more formal still.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

I don't know why she is called 'Kat'. Maybe it is short for Katrina.
People can be named almost anything. There is a singer who used to be
called "Cat Stevens" before he converted to Islam, so it isn't true that
"Cat" spelled normally can't be a proper name.

It's not my real name Jorge Luis... ... ... I do have a cat called
Django, but her English is pretty poor so she doesn't do many
postings.

I don't think I've ever come across anybody who has the first name Cat
or Kat - maybe your friend is thinking of Kate?  There's also other
various shortened forms of Katherine and Catherine such as Cath...

Regards
DC