Got / had?

[Deafdonkey]

Piercings don’t rule you out from donating – you just need to wait four months from when you got it done.

Is the above sentence correct. It feel wrong but I would like to know if it is grammatically correct.

It looks grammatical to me.

"To get done" is a valid construction, so if you can say "you get it done" (as in "you get the piercing done and I'll make a note for four months' time when you can start donating again"), then the past tense must be "you got it done" (as in "can I ask when you got the piercing done?").

I would only do this on Pedants' Corner, but are you aware that your OP is missing a question mark and also contains a grammatical error ("feel")?

😂 Lesson learnt- proofreading is important!

Thanks for you reply. I realise I rely on how a sentence sounds rather that knowing the grammar behind it.

or 'you just need to wait until four months after your piercing' would also work.

I realise I rely on how a sentence sounds rather that knowing the grammar behind it.

Actually, I think that's actually a useful guide. What you can do is also take the questionable bit of a sentence and see what happens when you vary it, like I did: "you got it done" -> try it in the present tense -> "you get it done" -> does it work with some words replaced -> "you got the work done" etc

I don't think it's ungrammatical.

I was told years ago to use the word 'got' as infrequently as possible as there was almost always a better alternative. In this case, 'had' would have been better.

But why is 'had' better than 'got'?

There might be a reason, but I think it's partly down to the prejudices of a generation of English teachers, who presumably saw 'got' as a bit of a bland / common word that should be replaced with something with more literary impact (but then 'had' is no more exciting).

If you're writing a leaflet in to blood donors, I would say 'got' is clear, and I can't see why 'had' is any better. And saying "wait four months to elapse from the time you acquired the piercing" is not plain English!