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Wondering which version is correct of these two sentences:

"I will go to war where I will be killed." or "I will go to war where I will get killed."

I was thinking it might be an american english vs. british english thing, but could not find enough examples to verify this. Or are both applicable to the same situation?

Laurel
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Douglas James Bock
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1 Answers1

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Both are idiomatic but "I will be killed" is the more widely used phrase:

Google Ngrams American English

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Google Ngrams British English

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    "Be killed" sounds like on purpose whereas "get killed" sounds like an accident. – Jim Jul 26 '16 at 05:06
  • @Jim ~ hmm I guess I can see more of a connotation of inevitability with "be" –  Jul 26 '16 at 05:12
  • @V0ight- I can change that with "could be killed". But in my mind, "the bad guys are going to take you to the abandoned factory where you will be killed" means that they want you dead are are taking you there to do it. Whereas, "if you go to that abandoned factory, you could get killed" probably means something like the floors are rotted and unsafe and you could fall to your death. OR I know the bad guys are hiding out there and if they see you they'll probably shoot you. – Jim Jul 26 '16 at 05:18
  • @Jim My view is that 'be killed' certainly sounds like there's more of a personal intent, more deliberation involved, but that either could be used for deliberate but 'it's war; it happens' killing. See Swan's comment in Shoe's answer here. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 04 '23 at 12:08