If you want to emphasize that someone has an unpleasant odor, would it be correct to say “You smell bad”, or “you smell badly”?
If you wanted to emphasize that their sense of smell was less than ideal, would you say “You smell badly?”
Well, there’s no polite way to say it, so I would say, “You have an unpleasant odor.”
To say “You smell badly” would mean something is wrong with the person’s sense of smell.
Well, I’m wondering if it’s gramatically correct to say “You smell badly” as a way of conveying “You have an unpleasant odor.”
Well, that’s what I was trying to convey. To say “You smell badly” is not grammatical, because you would be saying something is wrong with the person’s sense of smell, rather than an unpleasant body odor.
I missed this in your OP, by the way:
“If you wanted to emphasize that their sense of smell was less than ideal, would you say ‘You smell badly?’”
Yes.
Do you want to see how many posts we can make starting with “Well?”
FWIW, this is The Grammar Lady’s take on the matter:
This reminds me of a story about Samuel Johnson (I have no idea how credible it is, but anyway), where he once met a lady, who proclaimed, “Mr. Johnson, you smell,” to which he replied, “No, madam, I stink, you smell.”
I believe this issue to be identical to one raised in this previous thread: “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should” - Why is this bad grammar?
“Smell” in this case is a linking verb, so it would require a predicate adjective (bad) rather than an adverb (badly).
“You smell bad” is correct in our daily usage of the language.
“You smell poorly” would be more acceptable for ability in smelling.
“Bad” is a adjective, modifying a noun (you).
“Poorly” is an adverb, modifying a verb (smell).
“Smell” can carry both the meanings of “having odor” or “detecting odor” depending on how it’s used.
The predicate adjective “bad” modifies “you” with the connection of “have [bad] odor” provided by the linking verb.
The adverb “badly” modifies “smell” in the other sense of “detect odor” – indicating that your skills at detecting odor are diminished.
The classic example is the dog who went for a swim in the swamp, after which he smelled bad, and then as a result developed a head cold, during which he smelled badly.
I said it before, I’ll say it again.
English sucks.
In the immortal words of Kramer…
“You stink”
Are there any rules to linking verbs?
Achernar
I believe this issue to be identical to one raised in this previous thread
I think there’s a subtle difference. In this case, I think both “You smell bad” and “you smell badly” are OK, depending on context.
Scenario 1)
X comes into the house covered in manure. I sniff, and say “You smell bad”.
Scenario 2) X comes into the house covered in manure, and asks “Do I smell much?” I reply, “You smell badly”.
In the latter case, the context is about comparison or degree, so that the “badly” shifts to meaning “intensely” rather than “in a poor manner”.
If you want to emphasize that someone has an unpleasant odor, would it be correct to say “You smell bad”, or “you smell badly”?
“You smell bad” is correct; “you smell badly” is incorrect.
If you wanted to emphasize that their sense of smell was less than ideal, would you say “You smell badly?”
Yes, that is correct.
*Scenario 2) X comes into the house covered in manure, and asks “Do I smell much?” I reply, “You smell badly”.
In the latter case, the context is about comparison or degree, so that the “badly” shifts to meaning “intensely” rather than “in a poor manner”.*
Sorry, that’s not correct. While “badly” can mean “greatly” or “intensely,” it’s still an adverb and still incorrect to use it with a linking verb, which requires an adjective. For the meaning you’re trying to convey, “very bad” would be correct, as would “awfully bad,” “intensely bad,” “extremely bad,” etc.
Are there any rules to linking verbs?
Just enter “linking verb” into the window at Google for all you want to know and then some. Here are some sites that might help:
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/linkingverb.htm
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/link.html
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000346.htm
http://grammar.uoregon.edu/verbs/linking.html
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/course/speech/1_3b.htm
To use the terms Sister Grace Agnes taught us in 6th grade…
There are verbs of action and verbs of being. A verb of action is modified with an adverb. A verb of being, typically, is not. Remember, an adjective describes a noun or pronoun. An adverb describes a verb.
Examples:
She IS beautiful.
She SINGS beautifully.
Now, in that example “is” is obviously a verb of being. All variations on “to be” are followed by adjectives, and not by adverbs. I am happy, but I laugh happily. You are polite, but you behave politely. And so on. Those are the obvious cases.
But there are other verbs that convey a state of being. Among those words:
seem
taste
smell
feel
become
Again, those are all verbs of being, and they should be followed by ADJECTIVES, not by adverbs.
Tom Hanks seems NICE, not nicely.
(On the other hand, he plays his roles nicely.)
When my team loses, I become SAD. I don’t become sadly.
(On the other hand, I weep sadly when they lose.)
A pretzel tastes SALTY, not saltily.
Pizza smells GOOD, it doesn’t smell well.
A drunk feels DIZZY, he doesn’t feel dizzily.
I always thought of the ending -ly as meaning “in this way or manner”. So beautifully would be “in a beautiful way”, etc.
My dog has no nose.
*Gary T
X comes into the house covered in manure, and asks “Do I smell much?” I reply, “You smell badly”.
Sorry, that’s not correct.*
The only incorrectness I can see is that someone appears to have invented a descriptive rule that doesn’t fit real usage, and now everyone’s applying it prescriptively.
Here’s an example about incense recipes that shows both usages. On the one hand: Any ingredients with an “*” next to them only smell bad or are irritating to the nose and eyes (that is, these ingredients have a bad smell under any circumstances). On the other: Don’t knock off the ash … unless the incense starts to smell badly (that is, it’s accepted that incense smells, but knock off the ash if it starts to smell more intensely than usual).
This may be in part a regional thing; in UK usage, “smell badly” is very standard idiom for “smell intensely” (in parallel with other uses of “badly” = “intensely”, such as “my finger hurts badly”). I don’t many people here would take it to mean “be poor at smelling” except as a rather pedantic joke.
That’s generally true, “-ly” will convert and adjective to an adverb. However, there are a few exceptions. “Lovely” shows a noun converted to an adjective, “goodly” shows an adjective converted to a different adjective.
Here’s a little joke that I think explains it all:
John is walking his dog through the park. Michael walks by from the other direction.
Michael: Hey man, your dog smells!
John: No; my dog stinks. You smell.
Don’t knock off the ash … unless the incense starts to smell badly (that is, it’s accepted that incense smells, but knock off the ash if it starts to smell more intensely than usual).
I stand corrected. I wasn’t thinking of “smell” in the sense of “give off an odor” ( = stink). In this usage, it is not a linking verb and “smell badly” is correct. Thanks for the clarification.