Jan '25 • Module Reflections & Questions
He got hired / He was hired + I had my teeth checked/I got my teeth checked
LYE's explanation is that 'he got hired' conveys difficulty or suprise. I agree on this and also it feels less formal because of that expression of emotion.
What about 'I got something done'? This is interesting because this expression can be used when the speaker themself is the doer and the arranger AND when the speaker arranges something for another person to do. There is also a sense of finality about 'getting things done'.
Also if we said 'The Japanese are good at getting routine things done' then we mean the Japanese organisation and processes being efficient at a systems level for routine things.
There is a book called 'Getting things done' which is about the action of deciding what to do, when and whether you or another person does it. So the idea of doing can be both active or passive... It depends on what you want to emphasise.
Oliver Burkeman has some good things on this idea in 'Mediations for Mortals'...
I did not find the video explanation of the distinction in 'I had my teeth checked / I got my teeth checked' very satisfying. My understanding of what Michael said was 'I got my teeth checked' was more informal and might take place in a story. But I can imagine 'I had my teeth checked and then I went shopping' or 'I ate a burger and fries after I'd had my teeth checked' and it sounds natural. I agree that 'I got...' sounds slightly more natural, but both are natural.
Also, the difference between 'he got hired/he was hired' and 'I had my teeth checked/I got my teeth checked' is that the second pair really highlights the agency of the speaker in 'getting things done'. It is a shorter way of saying 'I made and attended an appointment with the dentist'.
The phrase 'had something done' conveys expediting something or delegating or submitting to a process. The phrase 'to get something done' conveys the difficulties in deciding what to do and who does it. There is a transitivity there: get + something.
However the first pair 'He was/got hired' is more like 'The company interviewed him and he satisfied the criteria'. Interestingly, 'He got hired' has a whiff of dishonesty about the process which 'He was hired' does not. If you add 'He got himself hired' then the meaning feels even dodgier.
This is a good reflection for my teaching approach because healthcare professionals often need to write requests in letters discharging a patient from their care or transferring a patient to a new facility. This calls for having the vocabulary and understanding of the 'next steps' as well as situational knowledge regarding what is appropriate to request AND the level of detail.
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He got hired / He was hired + I had my teeth checked/I got my teeth checked
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