Use of go

Question

" Go find yourself a new home "Is the above sentence correct ?Shouldn't we write "Go and find yourself a new home" ?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

It is correct; the 'and' is often omitted.

Anonymous · Answer

But is such a sentence acceptable in formal speech ?

Mister Micawber · Answer

Go find yourself a new home would not be 'formal speech' no matter how you amended it.

Emsr2d2 · Answer

I think there may also be a BrE vs AmE issue here. In BrE we very rarely miss out the "and". Certain American expressions are starting to be used with this construction, the most popular one being "Go figure", an exclamation you make when you hear something you find it hard to understand or to believe.

As far as the formality is concerned, I don't know if it would be possible in AmE for a boss in a business meeting to say to an employee "Please go fetch the report on last month's sales"? Perhaps they would simply say "Please fetch...". Whereas, in BrE, the boss would say "Please go and fetch..." or "Please go and get..." I would have thought that they would still be considered "formal" requests.

Use of go

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