[Grammar] "I am good" or "I am well" ?

[5jj]

But in greetings, 'good' is clearly used as an adverb by many people.

How are you? -- Good, thanks.

I disagree.

How are you (feeling)? - Well/good/happy/proud/disappointed.

They are adjectives in my opinion.

 

[shannico]

Please bear with me a little longer on this.

Is there any reason, other than tradition or habit, for why many native speakers (particularly older ones) avoid "good" as an answer to the common question "How are you?" ?

I was hoping that perhaps "good" does not belong alongside "well" and "fine" because its application would lead to confusion or ambiguity (as explained in my previous post), but clearly failed to drum up much enthusiasm or following with my lame arguments .

I don't actually think good may be regarded as an adverb, with the exception of some adverbial phrases e.g. for good.

Good | Define Good at Dictionary.com

If you check out the above link, you'll see that the only one function it has as an adverb is as an informal usage of WELL.

Hope this helps.

 

[5jj]

Slightly off-topic here, but the second half of my signature, labelling is rarely important, is not totally irrelevant here, I think. Until this thread started, I would have answered "adverb", if anybody had asked me out of the blue what part of speech 'well' was in "I am well".

Now that I have thought about it, and realised that all other words that go in that slot are traditionally regarded as adjectives, I have decided that 'well' must be an adjective here. The dictionaries I have consulted agree.

But - does it matter what we call it?

Learners need to know that the normal response to the enquiry in BrE has been, and still is, for many of us, "I am well/fine/OK/depressed/etc". I am good", which appears to have been acceptable in AmE for a long time, is being used more and more in BrE. Whether these words should be labelled as adverbs or adjectives is not important, in my opinion.

 

[JarekSteliga]

"How are you doing?" is a common question even though technically it makes no grammatical sense. I have one friend who always replies to that question with "How am I doing what?"

As with the rest of this thread, the answer is that you will hear "I'm doing good" a lot but the answer should be in the form of an adverb. "I'm doing well, thank you" which means the same as "I am well" but uses the same form as the question using "doing".

Thank you. It was important for me to know that "How are you doing?" requires and adverb in answer. I had thought so, but prefered not to take it for granted after the multifarious views expressed in this thread sent me reeling. :shock:

And I am truly astonished why your friend refuses to accept and use "how are you doing?" simply as an idiom. Does he never use any? :-(

 

[5jj]

Thank you. It was important for me to know that "How are you doing?" requires an[STRIKE]d[/STRIKE] adverb in answer.
It does not require an adverb answer, particularly if that answer is one word - fine, OK, good, well, etc.

5

 

[JarekSteliga]

Slightly off-topic here, but the second half of my signature, labelling is rarely important, is not totally irrelevant here, I think. Until this thread started, I would have answered "adverb", if anybody had asked me out of the blue what part of speech 'well' was in "I am well".

Now that I have thought about it, and realised that all other words that go in that slot are traditionally regarded as adjectives, I have decided that 'well' must be an adjective here. The dictionaries I have consulted agree.

But - does it matter what we call it?

Learners need to know that the normal response to the enquiry in BrE has been, and still is, for many of us, "I am well/fine/OK/depressed/etc". I am good", which appears to have been acceptable in AmE for a long time, is being used more and more in BrE. Whether these words should be labbelled as adverbs or adjectives is not important, in my opinion.

Please, do not discard labels! Without them I would never know whether to say "splendidly" in answer to "how are you doing?" or "excellent" as in answer to "how are you?". Remembering just one label attached to "how are you?" opens up a treasure trove of possible vocabulary to correctly answer the question :-|

I hope you will not find me pushing it but I am genuinely perplexed to ... label this expression in terms of adverb/adjective identification:

"Never better"

My guess is it would fittingly answer both questions mentioned in this post.

 

[JarekSteliga]

The original purpose of this thread was to dismiss the use of "good" on grounds that "good" is an adjective.

In the course of the discussion I was made to understand that "how are you?" does require an adjective and "good" is shunned by some native speakers for reasons which it is not particularly productive for an English student to dwell on.

I also wanted to identify adequate opposite numbers in English of my native expressions used in similar situations.

"Jak zdrowie?" = "how are you?" (answered in both languages with an adjective)
"Jak leci?", "co słychać?" = "how are you doing?" (answered in both languages with an adverb)

Thank you all

 

[billmcd]

"I'm good" seems to have snuck its way into BrE over the last few years. (And so has "snuck" ;-))You're quite right, though, that the "proper" reply is something like "I'm [very] well, thank you" or "I'm fine, thanks". You will hear "I'm good" a lot but I wouldn't recommend using it in a formal situation.

In answer to your question, "good" is not an adverb.

b.

 

[TheParser]

CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) I just remembered that someone once commented on those Americans and

Europeans in the 19th and early 20th centuries who went to live in poorer areas

of the world.

(a) That "someone" said that although the majority of those travelers were sincere

people who worked hard to help the "natives," there were some

who went to do good but ended up doing well.


(i) "good" = good works. (an adjective)

(ii) "well" = lived in a very privileged manner. (an adverb)

 

[JarekSteliga]

5


My words: Thank you. It was important for me to know that "How are you doing?" requires and adverb in answer.

Your words: It does not require an adverb answer, particularly if that answer is one word - fine, OK, good, well, etc.

hmm...

In post #16 I read that it should.

One way of getting around the dilemma will be to use just these two words: well, fine.

Also I am beginning to think that any other word like "splendid", "excellent", "wonderful" would sound unnatural and pompous.

 

[emsr2d2]

From Billmcd: "I'm good" seems to have snuck its way into BrE over the last few years. (And so has "snuck" ;-))

Really?! I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")

 

[TheParser]

I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.

CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) "Sneak is a word of mysterious origin. It first turns up in Shakespeare.

Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and you must have a word.

-- Measure for Measure, 1605"

(2) "Sometime in the late 19th century a variant irregular form, snuck, began to

appear in the United States."

(3) Occurence in British English is rare but not unknown."

Source: Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989).

(4) "The standard past form is sneaked. Surprisingly, though, snuck appears

half as often in American writing as sneaked."

Source: A Dictionary of American Usage (1998) by Bryan A. Garner, whom some people call the "American Fowler."

P.S. I forgot to mention that Webster's Dictionary of English Usage thinks that

eventually "snuck" may win the battle because it seems to be popular with the

young.

 

[TheParser]

Is "good" both adjective and adverb?

.

CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) I have just read that a certain American entertainer has done very well during the

last two years. (In fact, he has 2,000,000 Twitter followers.)

(2) He has just written a book.

(a) Its title is (I have left out a few words on purpose and the word in bold is my emphasis):

Life Advice From a Fat, Lazy [person] Who Did Good.


Source: Newsweek, February 13, 2012.

 

[5jj]

A rare difference of opinion here, ems.

Really?! I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.
I've always assumed that 'snuck' is AmE.

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")
I agree with you there, though there are exceptions - 'dived/dove'. I have taken 'sneaked/snuck' to be one of the exceptions.

 

[emsr2d2]

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")
I agree with you there, though there are exceptions - 'dived/dove'. I have taken 'sneaked/snuck' to be one of the exceptions.

5jj - did you mean that "dove" is an exception to the mini-rule that irregular past tenses are normally BrE? I only ask because I was taught that "dove" was the past of "dive" from a very early age. I still baulk when I hear "dived" from anyone!

 

[5jj]

5jj - did you mean that "dove" is an exception to the mini-rule that irregular past tenses are normally BrE? I only ask because I was taught that "dove" was the past of "dive" from a very early age. I still baulk when I hear "dived" from anyone!

Horrrors! "Dive is regular in British English, but can be irregular in American English." [FONT=&quot]Swan, Michael (1980) Practical English Usage (3rd ed, 2005.286), Oxford: OUP[/FONT]

 

[konungursvia]

I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.

But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".

 

[5jj]

konungursvia: I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.
I gave it little thought before this thread. Because 'I am good' sounded completely wrong to me - as a speaker of BrE, I found only 'I am well' natural' - I assumed that 'good' must be a an uneducated mis-use of an adjective for an adverb.This thread has made me realise that in 'I am X', words that fill the X gap are always adjectives, and that 'well' must be functioning as an adjective here. We see the same in "She looks intelligent, worried, well, good, etc'. I had previously realised that, as well as being the adverb we use when we require an adverb for 'good', 'well' means 'in good health. What I should have realised that if 'ill' in 'I am ill' was an adjective, 'well' must also function as an adjective at times.

The only question now is: 'does "I am good" mean exactly the same as "I am well"?'

k: But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".
5: This also happens with many speakers of BrE. It is still, in my opinion, is sub-standard usage.

 

[emsr2d2]

I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.

But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".

When I hear any politician speak, I just hear "blah, blah, lies, blah, nonsense, blah, blah".