get, got gotten

[Oberon]

Has gotten become a legal word? My dictionary doesn't have it. I know "I have got" has a feel of incompleteness but gotten doesn't seem right to me, either. People rarely use simply "I have." Of course, there are times you need "I have got," as in "I have got three apples from that tree this year."
"I have got blue eyes" is wrong. Right?

[CaroGirl]

Personally, I hate "gotten" and won't use it. However, I see it used increasingly in things I read, particularly stuff from the U.S.

To me, I have blue eyes sounds far better than I have got blue eyes, or even I've got blue eyes. It sounds like you went to the store and picked up a set of blue eyes.

But I have got a lovely bunch of coconuts.

[DeleyanLee]

Has gotten become a legal word? My dictionary doesn't have it. I know "I have got" has a feel of incompleteness but gotten doesn't seem right to me, either. People rarely use simply "I have." Of course, there are times you need "I have got," as in "I have got three apples from that tree this year."

"I have got blue eyes" is wrong. Right?

"I have got blue eyes" sounds like something off lolcats.

What's wrong with "I have blue eyes" and "I got three apples"? Though I was taught, way back when, that "I've gotten three apples from the tree this year" would be correct, but that's a different past tense than just "I got".

[Judg]

Get is the present. Got is the simple past. Got is also the past participle.

Gotten used to be the past participle and is considered archaic in Britain. In North America, it is still widely used. Hence the debate. Caro has a more British background, so it sounds funny to her. I live in the same town, but have no Brits in the family tree and am entirely comfortable with gotten.

"I have got" is an idiomatic expression that means "I have in my possession." In slang or dialectal use it's often shortened to "I got" so we end up using a past tense form to express something in the present. Such is language.

Got it?

[IceCreamEmpress]

This (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html) is a really good overview of the difference in UK/US usage of "gotten".

This might help elucidate how "get/got/gotten" are used in the US:

I was afraid I wouldn't get any of the answers right on the exam, but I got all of them. Of course, that was because I had gotten the teacher's copy out of her desk the previous night.

In US usage, "...I had got the teacher's copy out of her desk" would sound incorrect.

A correct US-usage sentence: "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts; I've gotten them from the grocery store in the past, but I got them from the fruit stand today."

[maestrowork]

"I've got" is colloquialism. "I've got blue eyes" is technically not grammatically correct. It should be "I have blue eyes." I only use "I've got" in something like this:

I've got to call her!


Otherwise, I prefer "gotten": I've gotten her a bouquet of flowers.

"I've got her a bouquet of flowers" doesn't sound right to my ear. And I was British educated.

[Judg]

"Ray has bought me a bouquet of flowers" sounds even better to my ear...

[IceCreamEmpress]

"I've got" is totally grammatical US usage. "I've got blue eyes like my father," for instance, is a grammatical sentence in US English. "I've got two tickets to Paradise" or "I've got a rocket in my pocket" or "I've got the horse right here, his name is Paul Revere"...all good.

[Oberon]

From The Court Jester (Danny Kaye):

"Get it?"
"Got it!"
"Good!"

Now, about those coconuts . . .

[Judg]

ICE, idiomatic or colloquial does not mean ungrammatical.

[Woodsie]

This has gotten out of hand.
I've got to go.

[IceCreamEmpress]

ICE, idiomatic or colloquial does not mean ungrammatical.

Ray said in his post (which I should have quoted to avoid confusion) that it was "technically not grammatically correct." It is grammatically correct in US usage.

[Carmy]

I remember a teacher giving a failure mark to a child using "got". There are few times when "got" is needed.

As for "gotten" -- Gak!

[qwerty]

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html (http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ejlawler/aue/gotten.html)

Right, wrong or indifferent, the word "gotten" makes a lot of Brits cringe and we don't use it. Only saying in case anyone wants to submit to the Brit market at anytime.

[Priene]

"I've got her a bouquet of flowers" doesn't sound right to my ear. And I was British educated.

I'm British, and there's nothing about this sentence which sounds ungrammatical. Once you start denouncing completely normal sentences as ungrammatical you're dictating the type of English you'd like to exist, not describing the one that does.

[waylander]

I'm British, and there's nothing about this sentence which sounds ungrammatical.

Seconded

[qwerty]

Thirded - can one say that?

[joliehale]

I remember a teacher giving a failure mark to a child using "got". There are few times when "got" is needed.

That's just ridiculous, unless the child was 1) at least in secondary school, 2) doing a formal writing assignment AND 3) had been taught that "got" is not appropriate in formal writing. I had an overly nitpicky teacher like this in high school, and I learned nothing from her (really, nothing at all, because I already knew my grammar back and forth, and the students who didn't know their grammar could absorb nothing from her rigid teaching style), except how to write the "standard five-paragraph essay" that university instructors don't want to see.

In creative or informal writing (including many instances of professional writing), "got" and its variations are perfectly appropriate because people use it in their thinking and in their everyday speech. There's no need to worry over such formal rules unless you are writing in an academic or formal context (and professional doesn't always mean formal; I'd tone down the formality in an agent query letter, for example, to avoid sounding difficult and snobby. In a legal brief, I'd go for a style manual).

All that said, if certain words sound unpleasant to your ears, simply don't use them. There's nothing wrong with having a personal preference.

[IceCreamEmpress]

"Got" and "gotten" are perfectly appropriate in formal writing in the United States. They're used in Supreme Court briefs and opinions; they're used in laws; they're used in literary novels.

[joliehale]

"Got" and "gotten" are perfectly appropriate in formal writing in the United States. They're used in Supreme Court briefs and opinions; they're used in laws; they're used in literary novels.


Well, I don't consider novels to be "formal" writing (and I write literary fiction myself) because they're supposed to reflect natural language patterns. But I'm happy to know it's permitted in legal writing. We all know what it means, so why not? Thanks for the info!