# Grammar: "You smell bad"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 17, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167 "2003-01-17T04:52:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/21 "2003-01-20T00:22:11Z")

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A parallel case (one which seems to be attracting many rulebreakers, unfortunately) is “feels”.

One does not “feel badly” unless one’s tactile neurons are impaired. One “feels bad”.

Every time I hear someone say that they feel badly it makes me feel bad.

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**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/22 "2003-01-20T00:42:58Z")

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To me, and to the Grammar Lady apparantly, “You smell badly” means you are bad at smelling.

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**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/23 "2003-01-20T05:02:00Z")

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_To me, and to the Grammar Lady apparantly, “You smell badly” means you are bad at smelling._

What do you make of:

“My room smells badly of cats”.

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**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/24 "2003-01-20T05:18:50Z")

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Hmm… Well I’m not too certain on the correct grammar, but it sounds okay that way. But I think it should be more like, “My room smells bad because of cats.”

Then again, I don’t quite understand how a room can smell bad because “of cats.” Maybe a litter box, but not cats. They don’t smell. Dogs do, but not cats.

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/25 "2003-01-20T06:36:01Z")

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That’s different ("…badly of cats"). Now you are again modifying a verb, a complex verb “to smell of cats”. Your room is doing it badly. But grammatically.

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**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:** [January 20, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/26 "2003-01-20T14:29:44Z")

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Phrase it this way: “My room smells badly ( = stinks intensely) because of the cat litter box.”

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**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-you-smell-bad/149167/27 "2003-01-20T14:48:27Z")

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If we were Germans we would invent a word something like katgeschmellen. _Meinen zimmer katgeschmellt schlecht_?

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