Learn English – He got his car stolen

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“He got his car stolen.” (From a Korean Grammar text)

When I saw afore-written sentence, I thought: can it make sense? It might be, if it should mean: [thought 1] he intentionally had his car stolen for malicious object, i.e. for taking insurance deceitfully. But this sentence below makes me think differently.

He got his nose broken in a fight. [= his nose was broken in a fight] (Webster’s #11)

After seeing Webster’s example, I got this second thought: [thought 2] he has got his car stolen without his any vicious intentions, i.e. totally by outer causes, that is, by thieves, etc.
Nonetheless, still I can’t shake off the first thought. How can I understand the sentence?

Best Answer

"Got his" adds an ingredient of blame over the person involved, meaning that he/she contributed in some way to the event.

You can be told not to drive into a dangerous neighborhood, because you can "get your car stolen" if you do so. Or you can "get your nose broken" if you provoke the wrong person.

On the other hand, if no negligence was shown by the person involved in the event, you can simply say that "his car was stolen" and "his nose was broken".

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