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I was wondering if there are grammatical differences between "get it over" and "get over it"?

If "over" is an adverb, "it" as a pronoun must be between "get" and "over", which is what I learned from grammar; so in "get over it", "over" must be a preposition?

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Get it over by itself is not grammatical: are you thinking of the expression "get it over with"? – phenry Jun 8 '11 at 14:48
Can be. Are you sure it is not said? – Tim Jun 8 '11 at 14:49
@Tim, it can be used without ...with, see the results here - google.com/… ; however on its own it is not so common and much more common use is as "get it over with" – Unreason Jun 8 '11 at 14:59
@Unreason Here it has other meaning than get it over with. For example, get it over foot-high obstacles means get something past foot-high obstacles over their top. Although I must admit there is one usage where meaning seems to be the same as get it over with - in the abstract from the book (?) Winging It . . . - Page 164 – Philoto Jun 8 '11 at 15:11
@Philoto, I do understand that, initial question was can you have just "get it over" (books.google.com/…) and I do remember hearing it... – Unreason Jun 8 '11 at 15:20
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2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

I found several entries for to get, in the phrasal verb section, so I thought I'd include them all. I separated them so the message is more comprehensible. Note that the last two are very similar except for the preposition "get sth over with" vs "get sth over to somebody". All the examples and definitions are mainly taken from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, with a double check on my NOAD (for example, what I wrote between parentheses in "get over sth/sb".

  1. get over something
    To deal with or gain control of something.

    "She can't get over her shyness."

  2. get over something/somebody
    To return to your usual state of health, happiness, etc. after an illness, a shock, the end of a relationship, etc. (Recover or overcome a difficulty)

    "He was disappointed at not getting the job, but he'll get over it."

  1. get something over (with) (informal)
    To complete something unpleasant but necessary.

    "I'll be glad to get the exam over and done with."

  2. get something <-> over (to somebody)
    To make something clear to somebody.

    "He didn't really get his meaning over to the audience."

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These are quite different.

Get over it means Don't concern yourself with something that's already in the past; accept it and move on to more productive pursuits from this site. Here get over is a verb with modifier preposition (please correct me if I'm wrong here, I'm awful when it comes to theory) and should not be separated by pronoun.

Get it over with (edited, thanks phenry) may mean finish it, stop it.

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Here, to get over sth is an example of a phrasal verb where the combination of verb and preposition essentially form a new verb with a different meaning that may have little to do with either particle's intrinsic meaning. – z7sg Ѫ Jun 8 '11 at 14:57
@z7sg Thanks a lot! – Philoto Jun 8 '11 at 14:59

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