# Grammar Question Good vs. Well **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361 "2003-06-07T23:42:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mortman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@mortman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mortman)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/1 "2003-06-07T23:42:00Z")
There’s a slight debate with some of my friends. If someones asks you, ”How do you feel?” Which reply is correct or are both correct? 1. I feel well. 2. I feel good. Theres no dispute that "well” is an adverb and “good” is an adjective. It seems to me that in the above contxt “well” is the state of your health. The response could be; 1. I am well. 2. I am good. Responding “I am well” says your health is OK, but “I am good,” seems to say you are a good person. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/2 "2003-06-07T23:47:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mortman \* > \*\*It seems to me that in the above contxt “well” is the state of your health. > > The response could be; > > 1. I am well. > 2. I am good. > > Responding “I am well” says your health is OK, but “I am good,” seems to say you are a good person. \*\* You are correct. ---
**Author:** ![MrO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/3 "2003-06-07T23:54:03Z")
“Well” can be an adverb or an adjective. Or a verb. Or a noun. Or an interjection. I’d agree that “I am well” would refer to one’s health. These days, “I’m good” seems to mean that the speaker is satisfied and needs nothing. It could also mean that the speaker is morally good, or skilled at something, but those seem less likely to me. ---
**Author:** ![lindsay.reid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@lindsay.reid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsay.reid)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/4 "2003-06-08T00:05:33Z")
This could be wrong, but my German teacher (in University) once told us that when you say you’re “doing good” in English, this is incorrect. You should say you’re “well.” She said that the reason why English speakers say “I’m good” so often is a corruption that was contributed to in large part by native speakers of German. i.e., in German “gut” would be appropriate in many instances where “well” would be preferable in English. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/5 "2003-06-08T00:11:05Z")
I feel well = I am healthy I feel good = my sense of touch is acute ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/6 "2003-06-08T00:42:19Z")
Well, well. I am not an expert, but if you told me, “I feel well,” I would think you were talking about your physical state: you feel the opposite of ill/sick. If you said, “I feel good,” I would think you were talking about your emotional state. \*“You just won the Boston Marathon! How do you feel?” “I feel good!” [passes out]\* ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/7 "2003-06-08T03:09:16Z")
Gee, can’t anyone check a dictionary? “Well” can be used as an adjective, and the very first definition says “In a satisfactory condition; right or proper: All is well.” When people say “I am well,” this is the one that’s meant. You can say “I am good” if responding to the question “Who here is a good tennis player?” If you’re talking about your condition, “well” is more correct. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/8 "2003-06-08T04:08:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*I feel well = I am healthy > I feel good = my sense of touch is acute \*\* I feel well = I am healthy I feel good = I am James Brown ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/9 "2003-06-08T05:38:21Z")
I think “I am good” is more often used when you have just won a ping pong match or knocked the ball into the goal. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/10 "2003-06-08T11:02:05Z")
_I feel good = my sense of touch is acute_ I don’t think many native English speakers would interpret it that way. “I feel \” is fine as a construction (e.g. I feel sick. I feel weak. I feel unwell). “I feel good” = “I have a general feeling of wellbeing”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/11 "2003-06-08T12:50:43Z")
If “well” were an adverb in “I feel well”, then that sentence would mean that I have a good tactile sense. Since it doesn’t, the only rational conclusion is that “well” is also an adjective. English is a Germanic language (although badly polluted by close contact with French over centuries) and Germanic languages, including older forms of English, do not clearly distinguish adjectives from adverbs. For example, the German word “gut” pretty much covers all the meanings of both “good” and “well”. So it is reasonable to suppose that “well” was originally an adjective that has mostly become an adverb, but is still used adjectivally in that one context. Incidentally, the “-ly” suffix, now understood as an adverb former, originated as an adjective former and there are still a goodly number of adjectives that end in it. ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/12 "2003-06-08T13:04:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I feel well = I am healthy > I feel good = my sense of touch is acute But “I feel well” means “my sense of touch is acute” in the same way “I run well” means “my skills at running are splendid”. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/13 "2003-06-08T14:11:19Z")
Check a dictionary; “well” can be adverb or adjective according to context. In “I run well” it’s an adverb; but as **Hari Seldon** said, in “I feel well” it’s an adjective. Same construction as “I feel fit” or “I feel healthy”. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/14 "2003-06-08T14:47:49Z")
**Reality Chuck** , you got it backward. Should be: I feel good = My state of being is fine (like James Brown’s) I feel well = 1. I perceive that my health is fine. 2. My sense of touch is acute. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/15 "2003-06-08T15:11:43Z")
For me it’s: 1." How do you feel?" 2. “Ok I guess.” ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/16 "2003-06-08T18:06:22Z")
The correct answer is: 'swell. ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/17 "2003-06-09T17:03:16Z")
> [@](#): > > heck a dictionary; “well” can be adverb or adjective according to context. In “I run well” it’s an adverb; but as Hari Seldon said, in “I feel well” it’s an adjective. Same construction as “I feel fit” or “I feel healthy”. I worded it poorly, but what I was driving at was that “I feel good” does not mean “my sense of touch is acute”, and “I feel well” would mean that, as well as meaning “I am healthy”. “I feel good” is technically incorrect in any situation, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/18 "2003-06-09T17:25:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MattTheCroc \* > **I worded it poorly, but what I was driving at was that “I feel good” does not mean “my sense of touch is acute”, and “I feel well” would mean that, as well as meaning “I am healthy”.** Correct. > [@](#): > > \*\*“I feel good” is technically incorrect in any situation, isn’t it? \*\* Nope. With “feel” as a linking verb (roughly equivalent to “am”), it is quite correct to say “I feel good.” Jomo Mojo’s post above has it exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/19 "2003-06-09T18:13:47Z")
At least from a mainstream UK English viewpoint, “I feel good” is correct, meaning only “I have a feeling of wellbeing” (as with James Brown). However, I gather from [World Wide Words](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-goo1.htm) that there’s a minority view that it’s non-standard or over-colloquial, despite it’s use since the 19th century. “I feel well” is also correct, meaning only the opposite of “I feel unwell”. Conceivably it could mean “my sense of touch is acute”, but for me that’d be a deliberately non-standard interpretation. As Grammar Court puts it, _“I feel well” could be referring to your tactile abilities–just as “Time flies when you’re having fun” could be a command. The only thing is, it’s not._ ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-good-vs-well/180361/20 "2003-06-09T18:15:52Z")
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