Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is "well" versus "good." Dick grammar It's not a matter of grammar, it's a matter of philology. Saying you're "good" is semantically incorrect because it could mean a seried of different things. "Well" addresses the question; i.e. health or psuchological state. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=21223#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=21223#Comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:59:46 GMT Omorose Panya grammar You know, I skipped this podcast because I thought, "Yeah, yeah, it's 'I am well,' not 'I am good,' blahblahblah," but this is a pleasant surprise! It's funny---I just talked to my guidance counselor today. When asked, "How are you," I replied---wait for it---"I am good". I'm pretty sure she doesn't think badly or less of me, but I was feeling distraught about it. Now I don't! I need to listen to this again to lock all the information in my head, but I will be armed and ready next time someone "corrects" me. Thanks for another lovely podcast =) http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=18536#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=18536#Comments Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:32:40 GMT Tom F. grammar When responding to "How are you?", both "I am good" and "I am well" are off the mark. Sure, using the formula of Noun + linking verb + adjective means plugging in "good" is grammatically acceptable. But, the definition of "good" does not work very well in answering the question. Good means: virtuous or of a favorable character or tendency. Likewise, using "well" as an adjective can work, based on the same formula, but the definition is not quite right as it refers mainly to health. So, what's the right answer? Get a bit more creative. First, you are not wedded to the noun + linking verb + adjective formula just because the asker used it. Use "I am doing well, and you?" or "well enough" or "I've never been better." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=18407#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=18407#Comments Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:35:50 GMT Yasi grammar Hi again Holly. I understand what you mean when you say that you are not asking about health. But that is the inherent meaning of the question. Just because we don't particularly use it that way anymore doesn't change what it is supposed to mean. It takes LONG time for the rules of grammar to change. Honestly, I'm not going to correct someone for saying he/she is doing "great" just to be proper and want an adverb instead of an adjective. But that goes back to what is acceptable in colloquial speech versus properly grammatical speech, and the two often are not one and the same. And if you do want to ask how someone is feeling, then he/she CAN be feeling good; like Grammar Girl correctly mentioned, to be feeling "good" as in "to be in good spirits," is perfectly fine grammatically. But in that case, the grammatically correct question is, "How are you feeling?" http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17864#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17864#Comments Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:27:43 GMT holly grammar thanks for the reply yasi. i'm totally fine with people answering "i'm doing well," it's just "i'm well" that's bothering me. and i think that's because when i ask "how are you?", i am NOT asking about health... maybe i'm just weird, but it seems like an invasion of privacy to be asking about somebody's health all the time. UNLESS it's "how's your family?" i think i am asking about health in that case. i'm more asking "how are you feeling?" and awaiting replies such as happy, tired, hungry, excited, content, pissed off, etc. and i think my friend that replies with "i'm well" all the time is just using it because she thinks she needs an adverb to go with "'m" and not because she's healthy. she's pretty grumpy most the time... i guess my point about the pessimistic person was more asking if we should go around saying "i'm ill" if we are clearly not well. i guess "i'm sick" is slightly more common, but that could get confusing with all the new fangled slang and people might actually think you are in fact well. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17812#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17812#Comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:10:10 GMT Yasi grammar In response to Holly's question, saying that a cake is good is fine since one is not asking about the cake's health. The issue with using good vs. well in response to "How are you?" is that the meaning of the question has been lost. When someone asks, "How is the cake?" he/she is not asking how the cake is doing health wise, but whether or not the cake tastes good or bad, which is fine. And in response to certain responses grating on the ears, obviously many things have made their way into colloquial speech and are commonly accepted as appropriate. I am not saying that if you were to answer a certain way, someone would not understand your meaning. I am simply saying that one of the responses is grammatically correct, and another is grammatically incorrect. The pessimistic person would have to say "I am not doing too well" or "I am doing poorly" if he/she so wishes. We often speak differently than what is grammatically correct. I, myself, end sentences with prepositions all the time in regular speech. Would I write that way? No. There is nothing really wrong with using colloquialisms in informal speech. I would never say to someone, "With whom are you speaking?" at the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious. I would say, "Who are you speaking to?" even though I know that it is technically incorrect. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17677#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17677#Comments Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:25:51 GMT holly grammar to the proponents of using solely "well": how can the negative/honest/pessimistic person reply? "i an not well" seems to grate, on my ears at least. how does "alright/ok" fit in? if someone asks, "how's the cake?", can you say "it's good" without implying that it's very virtuous cake? please pardon the punctuation. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17576#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17576#Comments Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:24:10 GMT John from Lorain grammar You too are correct, Yasi. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17503#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17503#Comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:03:06 GMT John from Lorain grammar This comment is two years late, but "better late than never." Paul, you were right, and Grammar Gril was (pathetically) wrong. As you stated, Paul, it is NEVER proper to answer, "I am good," to the question, "How are you?" One may answer, "I am well" or "I am fine" or "I feel poorly," etc., but never "I am good" (which means, as you stated, Paul, "I am virtuous"). The problem is this: Here and there, in our nation, an influential individual misuses a word by trying to give it a new meaning (e.g., misuses "good" to mean "well"). Then, a few spineless people who admire the individual begin to imitate him/her. Then, before you know it, someone who has a captive audience (like GG), is pontificating about the subject and demanding that everyone believe that it's OK to misuse the word, "good." It's just pitiful the way the language deteriorates because of these misguided souls! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17502#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17502#Comments Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:59:15 GMT Yasi grammar Thank you SJ, for catching my typo. I must have gotten ahead of myself thinking of my next sentence. But just so you know, I committed a grammatical error, not a spelling one. And I was not trying to "bash" her advice; I was trying to correct her so that others may learn. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17476#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx?commentid=17476#Comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:22:33 GMT Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:59:46 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/good-versus-well.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us