‘We’ve got ten thousand dollars for laboratory equipment.’
Why not just ‘We have ten thousand dollars for laboratory equipment’? Isn’t the word ‘got’ incorrect in the prior sentence?
I recall a few years ago the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used the slogan: “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania.” My understanding is they have problems funding their schools.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with “have got”. However, it used to be that “I don’t have indigestion” and “I haven’t got indigestion” meant two different things.
If the word isn’t ‘necessary,’ then isn’t it improperly used?
Link to the article:
What’s correct, “he had GOT some” or “he had GOTTEN some”?
Anything to do with American English, I’m staying well out of …
‘War Between the States’ or the ‘Civil War?’ Let’s ask George Bush and Arnold …
When I was being eductaed at my English prep and public schools 50 years ago (that’s grade and high school over here) I was always taught to avoid the use of the word “got” because it was a colloquial word that well-educated English gentlemen should not use.
Around here they say it sounds ‘Pennsylvania Dutch.’
What do New Zealanders think?
No.
No, you weren’t taught any such thing; “got” is the only correct form of the simple past of “get”. Perhaps you were taught something along the lines of the following:
– American Heritage Dictionary
Or perhaps you were taught, incorrectly, that “got” is an incorrect substitute for “gotten”; I believe there is a superstition to that effect among the pinkie-up school of grammarians.
I agree with LouSheehan. The past participal sense is intended only in a minority of instances; generally, the got/gotten is redundant. In common usage, “I’ve got a headache” simply means “I have a headache.”
That doesn’t make it “improper”.
“Improper” v.s. “ill-advised”? A usage can be technically correct but stylistically frowned upon. Especially in writing, the insertion of unnecessary wordage can make a bad impression.
I somehow remember way back being told I was going to get it. Then I got it. When I got it, I knew I had gotten it.
Heh. Did you just make that up?
Sometimes, an incorrect word is back-formed by applying a general rule. This often happens with irregular verbs. (I wish I could remember some of the common examples.)
Although I naturally bow to Cecil’s explanation of the parallel evolution of got v.s. gotten, I do wonder if that kind of back-formation might have been partially responsible for the popularization of “gotten” in spite of “pinkie-up” grammarians’ disapproval. (I like that term.)
I was taught the same at a lower-middle class NJ public school, and it’s stuck. I can’t say “got” without thinking to myself, “should I be saying ‘obtained’ instead?”
Have milk?
Obtained milk?
Have got milk?
I’ve got sixpence…
If you are told to get going, can you say that you got going? What about your arrival. Might one say that they got there? English is looking more like French when we have these problems.