Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Get

532d

In AmE, get has an -ed participle form gotten, which is not used in BrE:

I mean, as poverty has 

gotten worse, as, you know, education has gotten worse,

as there’s been more single-parent families, as there’s been more homelessness,

there’s been more crime. 

(AmE)

Û

539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Appendix: North American English grammar | 883

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A frequent use of get (followed by a verb in to-infinitive form) in AmE is to refer to

achievements. This usage occurs in BrE but is much rarer:

That’s great advice. I’m so glad 

I got to talk to you. 

(AmE)

A: It was a lot of fun. I got to see Arkansas. I got to see that country. 

B: Yeah. 

A: It was really green down there. 

B: No kidding. 

(AmE)

[talking about an actress, a friend of speaker A’s, who was offered film work]

A: The thing is she couldn’t have turned it down because she hadn’t done any

work for two years so she had to. 

B: Oh yeah absolutely. 

A: And she got to film on location in Majorca. 

(BrE)