Get or go?

Get and go have similar meanings, when talking about travel or motion. When we use get, we emphasise arrival:

We’ll phone you as soon as we get to Rome.

Not: We’ll phone you as soon as we go to Rome.

The thing is, he missed the bus and got to school late and missed part of the match.

Not: … and went to school late and …

We use get on and get off not go on and go off for buses, trains, planes:

When I got on the plane, there was someone sitting in my seat.

Not: When I went on the plane …

Liam will be waiting for me when I get off the train.

Not: … when I go off the train.

Get and go are both used to mean ‘become’, but they combine with different adjectives. We often use get with words like dark, light and late; we use go with colours and words with negative associations such as mad, bald, bad:

It’s getting dark now so be careful.

Not: … going dark …

He’s only 30 and he’s going bald.

Not: … and he’s getting bald.

We left the milk in the sun too long and it’s gone bad.

Not: … and it’s got bad.

However, with some adjectives such as old, sick, tired and ill, we use get:

He got very tired walking to the match in such a large crowd.

Not: He went very tired walking …