word choice - Should I use "got" or "gotten" in the following sentence?


I can't figure out whether to use got or gotten in the following sentence:



I no longer recognized my own skin, my own feelings, my own thoughts. It was as if the real me had got/gotten lost on the highway.



Which is the correct form of the verb?



Answer



This article (emphasis mine) would be hard to improve on:



As past participles of get, got and gotten both date back to Middle English. The form gotten is not used in British English but is very common in North American English, though even there it is often regarded as non-standard.


In North American English, got and gotten are not identical in use. Gotten usually implies the [punctive act /] process of obtaining something, as in he had gotten us tickets for the show, while got implies the state [durative] of possession or ownership, as in I haven’t got any money.


[Oxford Dictionaries]



An American might well prefer 'gotten' in the OP; a Brit would probably not, and might well not like the sound of the 'got' version either, choosing to rephrase, as Preetie suggests.


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