🔊 ‘BE’ Passive vs. ‘GET’ Passive - What’s the Difference? (Advanced)
In English, both the passive voice constructions using the verb 'BE' and 'GET' can be used to convey a similar idea. Both constructions can be used interchangeably in some cases. However, the choice between them often depends on the level of formality, the type of verb, and the emphasis that you want to convey.
The ‘BE’ passive is often considered more formal and is commonly used in written and academic English. It places emphasis on the action or the result of the action rather than the doer of the action. The ‘GET’ passive is generally more informal and colloquial. It's commonly used in spoken English or less formal writing.
An important grammatical difference between the passive voice with BE and GET is that we only use GET with action verbs, not stative verbs. Stative verbs like ‘believe’ and ‘wanted’ do not express action or change, so it typically doesn’t make sense to say “I got believed.” or “She gets known.”
Next, if you use the ‘BE’ passive, there are some situations where it’s not clear if you’re talking about the action or the state. This confusion usually occurs when the past participle form of a verb can also be used as an adjective to indicate a state or a status.
Take, for example, “the house was damaged” versus “the house got damaged.”
In the first sentence, this could be a general state or a specific action. The only way we could know is to add more context:
A few years ago the house was damaged, but now the house is not damaged. It looks great! (This refers to the general state of the house.)
The house was damaged by a terrible storm in 2019. (This refers to a specific action or event.)
We can see another example of this when we compare sentences that use the verb ‘to marry.’
“Lisa is married.” “Lisa is a married woman.” Here, ‘married’ is a participial adjective.
“Lisa was married last year.”
For native speakers, there are two possible interpretations of this sentence:The first interpretation, and the most common one, is that it sounds like Lisa is no longer married and she got divorced. It’s much more common for people to say “get married” and “get divorced.” This way, we clearly know that you’re talking about an action, not a state.
Another interpretation is that perhaps, the wedding was last year and Lisa is still married today. For most Americans, this is possible, but this is a less common interpretation because, again, the ‘BE’ passive sounds extremely formal.
As I mentioned earlier, you could add more context to make it clear:
Lisa was married last year, and now she and her husband have a beautiful daughter.
We often use the GET passive to emphasize actions that are unexpected. This can be something that’s very positive and surprising, or something that’s very negative and unwanted. Note that this is usually more conversational and less formal.
For example, “my bike got stolen.” (This was very shocking. I didn’t expect this to happen, and I definitely did not want this to happen.)
However, if you’re presenting facts or information before a judge in a court of law, you may choose to say “My bike was stolen.” This is a more formal situation and you are just stating a fact.
So, I can get promoted at work (This is great news, and I really wanted this!). On the other hand, I can get fired (I definitely did not want or expect this to happen).
You can get chosen to be on a tv show, or you can get arrested. Actually, no. Please don’t get arrested!
GET is one of the most essential verbs to master in English because it has multiple meanings, and native speakers use this verb in many different situations. If you want to learn more, watch this lesson about 15 common ways to use GET.
