Get

In sentences expre ing simple po e ion—as, "I have got a book," "What has he got there?" "Have you got any news?" "They have got a new house," etc.— got is entirely superfluous, if not, as some writers contend, absolutely incorrect. Po e ion is completely expre ed by have . "Foxes have holes; the birds of the air have nests"; not, "Foxes have got holes; the birds of the air have got nests." Formerly the imperfect tense of this verb was gat , which is now obsolete, and the perfect participle was gotten , which, some grammarians say, is growing obsolete. If this be true, there is no good reason for it. If we say eaten , written , striven , forgotten , why not say gotten , where this form of the participle is more euphonious—as it often is—than got ?