[General] Predicate Adjectives or nominative

1) I felt bad about it.


can we use badly here. if not so why can't ?

e.g I felt badly about it.

Not a teacher!

After linking verbs we use adjectives (be, sound, seem...).
You even know the term predicative adjective. Those predicative adjectives are connected through copula (linking verbs).

You can find the rules about it easily on the internet.

vaibhavmaskar said:

1) I felt bad about it.


can we use badly here. if not so why can't ?

e.g I felt badly about it.

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The verb "feel" can be a linking verb, as it is in your sentence. If the modifier that follows it describes the subject, the modifier should be an adjective -- in this case, "bad". However, you will see and hear "I feel badly" often.

See the usage note here: bad - definition of bad by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

vaibhavmaskar said:

1) I felt bad about it.


can we use badly here. if not so why can't ?

e.g I felt badly about it.

Click to expand...

Another "sense" verb that can be (but not always is) a linking verb, is "smell". Consider the following:

I have a hunting dog who smells bad. (He stinks.)
I have a hunting dog who smells badly. (He is a poor hunter.)

MikeNewYork said:

I have a hunting dog who smells badly. (He is a poor hunter.)

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Although that sentence is grammatically sound, I find it unnatural. I think we'd be far more likely to say something like ' I have a hunting dog who has a very poor sense of smell'.

5jj said:

Although that sentence is grammatically sound, I find it unnatural. I think we'd be far more likely to say something like ' I have a hunting dog who has a very poor sense of smell'.

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I agree. My examples were for instructive purposes only.