Silencing those canaries Get, A Lot, and You

Ever since the day my seventh grade English teacher screamed at us not to ever use the word get in an essay I have very carefully tried to avoid doing so, along with got, getting, and gotten, of course. Now as an English Composition instructor myself I actually deduct points when my students use the words. With care I tell students that get is a weak verb and to use action verbs to move their readers.


My seventh grade teacher explained that to us many times and as I recall was doing so again before she erupted in anger at the end of the classroom period that day. I want to affirm that we seventh graders all really liked our teacher and to watch her grow angry at her desk over the use of get shocked us. She had never before been so angry with us. I also recall feeling very sorry for having committed the sin, and I think most of my fellow students in the class did as well.

To be sure, we were all relieved when the bell rang, signaling the end of the tirade and our chance to escape. Then, compounding the moment, our teacher shouted at us to, “Get out” of the room. Well, we were even more dumbfounded to hear the teacher use get in a sentence herself, and then a classmate pointed out to her, with the greatest respect, that she had just used the cursed word herself. This resulted with the teacher bowing her head down on her desk. Then the entire class jumped up and surrounded her desk. We cared about for our teacher. We all apologized to her and asked if she was okay. All I remember is that a hand weakly waved at us to signal that she was fine, as if she were surrendering, the hand moving back and forth like a white flag waving, and then we left.

The next class things seem to be back to normal, but I know for sure that I would try to avoid using that word. The drama of the day prior had left an impression on me.

As I said, now, as an English teacher myself, I take off points for the use of get in essays. I too have grown weary of seeing this word and its cousins. I also take off for using a lot and the second person. I do not go on rants. I do, though, see value in deducting points. Today I think of these words as my “canaries in the mine” and they help me to help students. Just as miners once listened for bird songs to know that dangerous gas was not building up in the mines they worked, my canaries sing to me when students use get as a weak verb, a lot when they need to present more detail, and the second person you when the essay’s tone is shifting. When I see the problems today, I also sense that students just were not listening to me yesterday. It amazes me with how quickly the problems disappear in the following essays assignments when students lose points in a previous one. My canaries are then silenced, honoring my seventh grade teacher as well.