What’s the difference between gather and get together? These two words are similar in English, but the way we use them is different. Let’s have a look at how to use gather and get together in everyday English conversation and writing.
Gather is a person’s action. Gather means to collect things or bring things from different places to one place. A person gathers things, usually with their hands.
- Mom says to her kids: Gather your books and let’s the library.
- I gathered the dishes from the table and brought them to the kitchen.
- I gathered all of my old clothes and took them to the donation center.
We also can use gather when we talk about people coming together in a public place. Quite often in this usage, when people gather, it is either not planned or the people don’t know each other.
- Many tourists in NYC gather in Times Square.
- A lot of people from the town gather in the park to watch the fireworks.
On the other hand, we say that people get together. Get together means people make plans and spend time with each other. You can use get together with when you mention who is getting together.
- We get together with our friends every Saturday.
- Jenny invited ten friends to get together at her house.
- My cousins always get together on a holiday.
How about you? Have you gotten together with anyone recently? Have the people in your town gathered anywhere? Leave a comment below and let us know!
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