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I know good normally is an adjective ("[object] is good"), and well is normally an adverb ("[activity] is performed well"). But quite a few times I've seen good used in place of well. For example, you can be feeling good.

When is good applicable as adverb? Is the vice-versa situation possible?

StoneyB on hiatus
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SF.
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2 Answers2

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As kiamlaluno tells you, it is non-Standard to use good where an adverb is called for.

However, there's nothing wrong with using it with feel. Feel is ordinarily used as what grammarians call a copula: its complement is a quality attributed to the subject, and is therefore an adjective, not an adverb:

I feel pretty! Oh, so pretty! I feel pretty and witty and bright!
I feel really, really stupid.
I'm feeling pretty bad today.

And (again as kiamlaluno tells you) “I feel well” means you don't feel sick, but healthy.

If you use feel with an adverb you are probably employing it not as a copula but as verb of physical action. “I feel badly” means your tactile sense is impaired.

StoneyB on hiatus
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Good is informally used as adverb, to mean well, as in the following sentences:

Her mother has never cooked this good.

She is feeling pretty good.

Well is used as adjective, to mean "in good health" as in "I don't feel very well, today."

apaderno
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  • Keep in mind that even though it is informal, it is NOT grammatically correct. – Squazic Jan 24 '13 at 23:15
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    @Squazic: That may be true of kiamlaluno's first example. But it's certainly not true of the second, as StoneyB explains. You wouldn't say that She felt hot should actually be She felt hotly**, would you? – FumbleFingers Jan 25 '13 at 00:48
  • @FumbleFingers You are using felt there as a linking verb, which is an entirely different story. – Squazic Jan 25 '13 at 01:51
  • @Squazic: Rubbish. In this context, there's no difference between she feels and she is feeling. And casting it in the past tense makes no difference either. – FumbleFingers Jan 25 '13 at 01:55
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    @FumbleFingers Ah, it seems I misread that sentence. Good and well in that second sentence can mean slightly different things though. – Squazic Jan 25 '13 at 02:21
  • @Squazic: Yes. She feels good normally means Her emotional state is positive, whereas She feels well would normally mean Her bodily sensations lead her to believe she's in good health. Of course, it could also mean her tactile senses are unimpaired, as StoneyB says. Or it could be her sexual partner saying he likes being "felt up" by her because she's good at that sort of thing - but as ever, context is everything. – FumbleFingers Jan 25 '13 at 02:34
  • @FumbleFingers The first example is similar to an example sentence taken from the NOAD: "My mother could never cook this good." I take that "cook this good" is at least grammatically acceptable. – apaderno Apr 10 '13 at 22:40
  • @kiamlaluno: It depends what you mean by "grammatically acceptable". According to conventional grammar, good is an adjective, and well is an adverb, so unquestionably it "should" be cook this well** if you want to be "correct". But many people would accept your example even if they might balk at, say, "I can speak English good". Probably because they unconsciously parse your example as something more akin to "My mother could never cook food* this good.*", which would be a valid adjectival usage. – FumbleFingers Apr 10 '13 at 23:16
  • @FumbleFingers That is understood. What I mean is that, when I read on a dictionary, "adverb informal well: my mother could never cook this good." I should assume that in some dialect/idiolect that is grammatically acceptable. That doesn't mean I could not find people who think I don't know grammar because I said "My mother could not cook this good." :) – apaderno Apr 10 '13 at 23:32
  • @kiamlaluno: There are some contexts where competent native speakers see nothing wrong in using "good" adverbially. And, of course, there will always be badly-educated (or otherwise "not competent") native speakers who never see anything wrong with such usages. But I assure you the vast majority of Anglophones would know there was something decidedly odd/substandard about a recipe containing the instruction "Add the eggs to the sugar and beat good". – FumbleFingers Apr 10 '13 at 23:42