Learn English – Don’t go close to him vs Don’t get close to him. when talking about keeping a physical distance from someone

sentence-construction

Don't get too close to him, he's in a bad place right now. He might just start yelling at you.

Don't go close to him, he's in a bad place right now. He might just start yelling at you.

Don't go too close to him, he's in a bad place right now. He might just start yelling at you.

Do all these sentences mean the same thing?
Are all of them grammatically correct?

When you say "Don't get close to him/her.", doesn't it mean you're asking the listener to not become close to someone, and not asking them to keep a physical distance from him/her?

What do we use when we're talking physical distance, well..something other than "Don't go near him."?

Best Answer

Let's make "him" a chimp and his action pulling your hair:

Don't get too close to him. He might pull your hair.

"get too close to" implies a gradual, perhaps not fully deliberate, nearing, the attainment of the state of being too close, however that state may come to be.

Don't go too close to him. He might pull your hair.

go implies deliberate movement without any nuance of gradual progress or reaching a state. The movement (here, walking) would simply occur in too close proximity to the chimp.

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