student asking question

What does "get it going" mean? How come "going" was used here?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

To "get something going" is a phrase that means to succeed in starting something. In this case, Ross is referring to starting another fire, as he accidentally started a fire with the candles earlier. The phrase can also refer to starting a machine, vehicle, a process, etc. "Going" is a gerund [verb + ing] and acts as the object of the verb "get" here. It indicates the starting process and progress of the fire. Ex: Let's get the car going so we can get out of here. Ex: I'm going to get the tea going while you work on that.

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