Have vs Get
Have and Get are two verbs that are often confused due to the appeared similarity in their meanings. Actually they have to be understood with different meanings and usages. The verb ‘have’ is often followed by the preposition ‘to’ as in the sentence ‘you have to meet him today’.
On the other hand the verb ‘get’ is used in the sense of ‘to buy’ as in the sentence ‘I want to get a pair of blue socks’. If the verb ‘get’ is substituted by the verb ‘have’ in the same sentence then you will get the idea of ‘to possess’. ‘I want to have a pair of blue socks’. In this sentence you can see that the verb ‘have’ has the meaning of ‘to possess’. This is the actual difference between the two verbs, have and get.
If the verb ‘get’ is followed by the preposition ‘to’ then it gives the sense of ‘happened to’ as in the sentence ‘I get to know about its importance’. It only means ‘I happened to know about its importance’. It is interesting to note that the verb ‘get’ gets into combination with various prepositions to form expressions such as ‘get to’, ‘get off’, ‘get into’, ‘get on’ and the like.
On the other hand the verb ‘have’ rarely combines with prepositions to form expressions. This is a major difference between the two verbs ‘have’ and ‘get’. The verb ‘get’ gives the meaning of ‘acquire’ as in the sentence ‘I want to get it now’. The sentence actually means ‘I want to acquire it now’. On the other hand the verb ‘have’ gives the meaning of ‘own’ as in the sentence ‘I want to have it right now’. The sentence actually means ‘I want to own it right now’.
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