to get someone started
49
6.2
- phrasal verb
:
hacer que alguien se ponga a hablar
- Need to organize some fundraisers if I'm going to get a campaign started.
- don't get me started
- get the conversation started
- help get him started
Examples
-
Whatever it was, it got her started on a habit.
Fiction book (1994) -
Sometimes I invent a scenario to help get them started.
Academic text (2005) -
"All it had to do was get him started.
Fiction book (1994) -
Now, as it happens, I do have some connections in the drilling business who might help get us started.
-
Now, you're not gonna get there today, no matter how much I try to help, but I can get you started on the right path.
-
Maybe this whole brouhaha will get a serious discussion started about a serious topic.
Blog text (15) -
As soon as you mention politics, it will get him started on his favorite complaints.
-
Just ask her about her travel experiences, and that will get her started for hours.
-
If you want to know about his opinions on the new policy, just bring it up to get him started.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To begin an action, event or process
Antonyms
How Encouraged
- Informal
12
6.6
49
6.2
∞
2.3
33
3.8
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The construction directly combines 'get' (to induce) + 'someone' + 'start' (to begin), so a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer it means to cause a person to begin (often to begin speaking). The particular nuance of prompting prolonged or complaining speech is pragmatic and context-dependent, but the core causative meaning is transparently compositional.
Etymology
Get someone started is like starting a machine: you get it started with a small push so it runs on its own, and the same small remark can make a person begin talking and keep going. So, to 'get someone started' means 'to make someone begin talking a lot', often about something they care about or will complain about.