3.6 The Passive Voice with Get

EXAMPLES

A Hollywood actor gets paid a lot of money. I saw a violent movie, but I didn’t like it. A lot of people got shot.

He was shot by a cowboy. He got shot three times. How much do actors get paid for a movie? Winsor McCay didn’t get paid a lot of money.

EXPLANATION

In conversation, we sometimes use get instead of be with the passive. get paid = be paid get shot = be shot Get is frequently used with: shot, killed, injured, invited, wounded, paid, hired, hurt, fired, laid off, picked, caught, done, sent, stolen. If there is an agent, we use be, not get. We usually omit the agent after get. When get is used in the simple present and the simple past, questions and negatives are formed with do, does, did.

EXERCISE 11 Change the following sentences to use get instead of be. If you see a by phrase, omit it.

1. Ronald Reagan was shot on the day of the Oscars.

Ronald Reagan got shot on the day of the Oscars.

2. One of his aides was shot by the same man, too.

One of his aides got shot, too.

3. Reagan wasn’t killed by the shooter.

4. Was the aide killed by him?

5. Was the shooter caught by the police?

6. Movie stars are paid a lot of money.

7. Who will be picked for the starring role of the movie?

8. I wasn’t invited to the Academy Awards.