Meaning & use
get to the point
Last updated
UK/ˌɡet tə ðə ˈpɔɪnt/
US/ˌɡet tə ðə ˈpɔɪnt/
Meaning
phraseidiominformal
To say the important thing directly without long explanations or unnecessary detail.
Grammar: No object; often follows should, need to or please.
Patterns
- get to the point
- get to the point of something
Please get to the point; the meeting ends in five minutes.
He talked for ten minutes before he finally got to the point.
A good email gets to the point in the first line.
Word forms
| third person singular | gets to the point |
|---|---|
| past tense | got to the point |
| past participle | got to the point (also gotten to the point in American English) |
| -ing form | getting to the point |
Common combinations
- finally get to the point
- After a long story, she finally got to the point.
- need to get to the point
- You need to get to the point in an interview.
- quickly get to the point
- The speaker quickly got to the point.
- ask someone to get to the point
- I asked him to get to the point.
Synonyms and how they differ
- come to the point
- Come to the point is almost identical and is slightly more British.
- cut to the chase
- Cut to the chase is more colorful and suggests skipping the small talk.
- be direct
- Be direct describes a style, not the act of skipping to the main message.
- be brief
- Be brief is about length, whereas get to the point is about relevance.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: get to the point or beat around the bush?
get to the point vs beat around the bush
This idiom means the opposite: to avoid saying the main thing.
Practice
Someone who keeps telling unrelated stories needs to ____.
Choose one answer.
Get to the point means say the main thing directly. Beat around the bush would describe the problem, not the solution.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “get to the point”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.
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