gotten

[Jack8rkin]

Hello everyone!

In the U.S. some people use the form "gotten" for the past participle of the verb "get".
Others use "got" for the past partciple.
Sometimes, as it appears to me from what I heard, one speaker could use
both the forms for the past participle of the verb "get". (But I'm not sure here)

Is it specific of a definite area or a speaker?

Thank you.

[bhaisahab]

Hello everyone!

In the U.S. some people use the form "gotten" for the past participle of the verb "get".
Others use "got" for the past partciple.
Sometimes, as it appears to me from what I heard, one speaker could use
both the forms for the past participle of the verb "get". (But I'm not sure here)

Is it specific of a definite area or a speaker?

Thank you.

As far as I am aware "gotten" is the past participle in AmE and most BrE speakers use "got". "Gotten" has been preserved in AmE and largely discarded in BrE.

[Jack8rkin]

As far as I am aware "gotten" is the past participle in AmE and most BrE speakers use "got". "Gotten" has been preserved in AmE and largely discarded in BrE.

That's what my dictionary says too. I'd like U.S. people to share their experience.

[TheParser]

[QUOTE=Jack8rkin;842705]


NOT A TEACHER


Mr. Brkin,


(1) I am delighted to share with you the opinions of Ms. Patricia T. O'Conner, who

once worked for The New York Times. In her book Woe Is I (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996), she explains the following:

(a) The British stopped using "gotten" three hundred years ago. "We [the Americans]

have retained a nuance that the unfortunate Britons have lost." [Remember: those are

her words, not mine!]

(b) She then gives these two examples:

Bruce has got three Armani suits. = He has them. [Only my note: I have got many books about journalism./ I have many books about journalism.]

Bruce has gotten three Armani suits. = He has acquired them or obtained them. [Only my note: This month, I have gotten two new books.]

[Jack8rkin]

[QUOTE=TheParser;842801]

NOT A TEACHER


Mr. Brkin,


(1) I am delighted to share with you the opinions of Ms. Patricia T. O'Conner, who

once worked for The New York Times. In her book Woe Is I (New York: Riverhead Books, 1996), she explains the following:

(a) The British stopped using "gotten" three hundred years ago. "We [the Americans]

have retained a nuance that the unfortunate Britons have lost." [Remember: those are

her words, not mine!]

(b) She then gives these two examples:

Bruce has got three Armani suits. = He has them. [Only my note: I have got many books about journalism./ I have many books about journalism.]

Bruce has gotten three Armani suits. = He has acquired them or obtained them. [Only my note: This month, I have gotten two new books.]

Actually it's "Mr. Vosmerkin (related to the word "Eight" and it's a character from a Russian book and a film entitled "Jack Vosmerkin - The American"), rather than Mr. Brkin

So, there is a difference in meaning between "got" and "gotten".
I understand that "has got" is a set expression mening "have", "possess",
and very often people say just "got" as in: "I got a gun!", says a cop to a young guy to threaten him in a certain
movie of which name I do not remember. (The situation is that the cop has a gun and not that he has received/obtained it from somwhere.)

I know that AmE has preserved some forms that are not in use in England anymore.
The BrE went a bit further away from the standard that was common for the speakers on both the coasts.

What I want to understand is how common in use is the word "gotten".
Is it that only old people use it in the U.S., or is it location specific in the U.S.?
Please, share your experience.

[Barb_D]

"I got a gun" (or a pen, or secret, or anything else) sounds uneduated. It's not a generational thing, in my opinion.

I've got = I have, I possess -- Just as the Parser's excellent post explains.
I've gotten = I've obtained, or I've become.

[SoothingDave]

The use of "gotten" is not going away in the US. It hasn't gotten any closer to obsolescence.

[Jack8rkin]

"I got a gun" (or a pen, or secret, or anything else) sounds uneduated. It's not a generational thing, in my opinion.

I've got = I have, I possess -- Just as the Parser's excellent post explains.
I've gotten = I've obtained, or I've become.

Thank you!

And yes, it may sound uneducated, but I always hear it in movies here and there, now and then. So, I see that "I got" is very often used in the colloquial speech in the sence of "I have", though it's not grammatical.

[Jack8rkin]

The use of "gotten" is not going away in the US. It hasn't gotten any closer to obsolescence.

Got it!