Straight From the News

I saw this quote in an article about Zoe Saldana.   She said ...

 "I get along very well with animals and children. I dig them, I get them. They make perfect sense to me."

Children make perfect sense to her but does Zoe make perfect sense to you?  



If you didn't understand this quote it might be the word GET that confuses you.   According to the dictionary the word GET means to receive something.  I'm sure you are probably familiar with that definition.  Such as, I get presents on my birthday.  But in this quote the  word GET has two different meanings.  Because it is really a verbal phrase.  When combined with other words, the meaning changes.  Let's take a look.

get along with - This means she has a good relationship with children.  She likes them and they like her and they enjoy being around each other.  She used the adjective "very well" to describe how well they get along.  She could have left it out and said, "I get along with animals and children." It still makes perfect sense.  But it is common to hear this verbal phrase used with this adjective.   

get them or get it - The next way that Zoe used the word get is "I get them."  Another way to say the same thing is I understand them.  You can use it when you understand a new lesson.  "I didn't understand the math problem before the teacher explained it but now I get it."  Or if you don't understand something you might say "I don't get it, why do we have to do homework every night?"    

There's one other thing that I think you might not get when reading this quote -  "I dig them."  To dig something is another way to say you like it.  Dig is not used very often nowadays.  It was more popular in the 1960s and 70s but you still hear it occasionally.    So, don't worry about memorizing dig, it's more important that you learn the 2 verbal phrases for GET -  Get along with and Get it! These two phrases will be usefully to you in every day conversation.