ENGLISH
REFERENCE

get across to

phr. v..
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford General-service

phr. v.. to make someone understand an idea or a message clearly.

phr. v.. to communicate a concept or information successfully to an audience; implies overcoming a barrier of understanding or distance.


SIMPLE

I hope I got my point across to the team.

CONTEXTUAL

The teacher used simple drawings to get the difficult science lesson across to the young students.

COMPLEX

The politician struggled to get his message across to the voters despite spending millions on television advertisements and social media campaigns.

Particles
across to
Separability
optional
Pattern
get + [object] + across + to + [person]
Usage

usually requires an object (the idea) between 'get' and 'across'.

Teaching tip

contrast with 'get through to' which focuses more on emotional connection or breaking through stubbornness; 'get across to' focuses on the clarity of the information.

Pitfall

I tried to get across my idea to him.I tried to get my idea across to him.while 'get across' can be used together, it is much more natural to place the idea being communicated between 'get' and 'across'.

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