Another Americanism I absolutely hate:
Agh! What, like Superman does? Do you feel like a good Samaritan now?
(For you Americans, you mean "We did
well")
Quincy--
The expression is, "You done good" and it is a high form of praise--or a nasty bit of class criticism.
No, I have also heard it the way I have it. Either way, I dislike both versions.
Quincy wrote:No, I have also heard it the way I have it. Either way, I dislike both versions.
"Opinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes. " - Voltaire
Ok, my point was, the general use of adjectives in the place of adverbs.
Quincy--
You can be detached and objective about my childhood idioms--even those idioms that caused my mother to shriek with offended rage.
Having grown up with this grammatical atrocity, I'm prejudiced.
Quincy wrote:Ok, my point was, the general use of adjectives in the place of adverbs.
Except that you're mistaken, Quincy. Who says 'good' can't be an adverb?
It's a matter of opinion, JTT. I personally would never say "He sees real good"... I'd say "He sees really well". And you can quote your stuff all you want - as I say, it's a matter of opinion, what sounds right.
Mame wrote:It's a matter of opinion, JTT. I personally would never say "He sees real good"... I'd say "He sees really well". And you can quote your stuff all you want - as I say, it's a matter of opinion, what sounds right.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, Mame and you're entitled to use the language any way that you so choose but that doesn't change the fact that the English language has 'good' as an adverb. What you might or might not say has nothing to do with how language actually works.
I'm sure that a recording of your daily interactions would surprise you with what you say. You are, after all, another human who uses language in all its registers from highly formal to very casual.
It is blatantly WRONG to say "he's seeing the ball good" or "I'm seeing good" unless you were watching Green Peace volunteers and you were of that bent.
Quote:
Usage: There is a clear distinction between the use of good and well following verbs. Good is an adjective that qualifies the subject of a linking verb, such as be, seem, feel, smells, tastes: It feels good; that tastes good. Well is an adverb that qualifies the verb directly: He dances well; he acts really well. It is nonstandard to say or write he dances good or he acts real good.
Reader's Digest Universal Dictionary
I will not let silly American sports commentators ruin the English language, like they ruined rugby and cricket (american football and baseball)
Quincy wrote:It is blatantly WRONG to say "he's seeing the ball good" or "I'm seeing good" unless you were watching Green Peace volunteers and you were of that bent.
Quote:
Usage: There is a clear distinction between the use of good and well following verbs. Good is an adjective that qualifies the subject of a linking verb, such as be, seem, feel, smells, tastes: It feels good; that tastes good. Well is an adverb that qualifies the verb directly: He dances well; he acts really well. It is nonstandard to say or write he dances good or he acts real good.
Reader's Digest Universal Dictionary
I will not let silly American sports commentators ruin the English language,
like they ruined rugby and cricket (american football and baseball)
I do believe you just committed a gaffe yourself, Quincy (gaffe by your own standards, I mean). Clearly, that should read "as they ruined..."etc., not "like." Some years ago there was an absolute uproar among self-appointed grammarians when a tobacco company used the phrase "Winston taste good like a cigarette should" as its slogan. The objection, btw, was not to "good" but to the misuse of "like" in place of "as."
I believe I was comparing the way English was being ruined to the way those sports were ruined. In your example they obviously aren't comparing anything two things. Oh, and also, "good" is, I believe, used correctly in your example, but it should be "tastes good". You would have seen that from the quote in my last post.
If I am wrong, I do apologise, but the use of an adjective in place of an adverb, or vice versa, is still wrong.
Merry Andrew wrote:
I do believe you just committed a gaffe yourself, Quincy (gaffe by your own standards, I mean). Clearly, that should read "as they ruined..."etc., not "like." Some years ago there was an absolute uproar among self-appointed grammarians when a tobacco company used the phrase "Winston taste good like a cigarette should" as its slogan. The objection, btw, was not to "good" but to the misuse of "like" in place of "as."
If I am wrong, I thank you and admit my error. In that regard see my previous post. I am still a student of English, even if it is my mother tongue. Corrections and suggestions are always welcome
.
I do not like what you suggest in your response. I do not consider myself a grammarian- why can I not defend English? The adjective/adverb bungle-up is very
ugly to me. Nevermind it being wrong. I find as/like errors less ugly. I don't know what you mean by "self-appointed grammarians". Grammar is grammar is grammer, and that's that. There's no two ways about grammer (usually). Those who are experts in the field of grammar are grammarians. You don't say "self-appointed doctors". If you don't like the correct use of English that's your problem. If you don't like maths and you want to do your own incorrect mathematics, you don't call mathematicians "self-appointed mathematics experts" do you?
Quincy wrote:I believe I was comparing the way English was being ruined to the way those sports were ruined. In your example they obviously aren't comparing anything two things. Oh, and also, "good" is, I believe, used correctly in your example, but it should be "tastes good". You would have seen that from the quote in my last post.
If I am wrong, I do apologise, but the use of an adjective in place of an adverb, or vice versa, is still wrong.
I think you missed Merry Andrew's point, Quincy.
And "Reader's Digest Universal Dictionary", Reader's Digest.
Also, 'good' does have an adverb form for NaE. You would have seen that from the quote in one of my previous postings.
Ok I have missed his point. What is his point? NaE? And what's wrong with the dictionary? Good can not be used as an adverb. It is used incorrectly if it is.
McTag wrote:If it feels good, do it.
If it sounds good, say it.
Merry Andrew wrote:McTag wrote:If it feels good, do it.
If it sounds good, say it.
If it tastes good, eat it.
I am not a puritan. I was just sticking to the topic of the thread- adjective/adverb errors are one of my pet peeves with regards to the english language- that's. what the thread is about.
I am not advocating perfect English- I too use bad English as you will no doubt be able to find for yourselves. But these types of errors are horrid, ugly, lead to confusion, and are easily avoided. It's not difficult to distinguish between adverbs and adjectives and when to use which. It is nowhere near as bad as some of the really arcane rules of grammar.
English is my mother tongue, and I was schooled in the standard English, or "the Queen's English", and saying: "I am seeing good", and using "good" as an adverb in that sentence is as bad as saying "that forrest is scarily", and almost as bad as "he are very tall"!
Also, it does not convey your meaning correctly. Saying "I am seeing good" using good as an adverb, meaning "well", the only way it should be interpreted is if good is a noun, thus your meaning is not conveyed. If we allow this to happen, English deteriorates. We may as well grunt at each other. Eventually "good" will have no meaning at all.
With regards to my dictionaries- I own three: Collins, Penguin and Reade's Digest. Only the last has a usage note for good/well, but the other two only list good as an adjective or noun anyway.
While I'm at it I may as well toss in another of my pet peeves: "all but" constructions in sentences. I know they are grammatically correct. What's wrong with "nearly"? "All but" to me is unnecessarily complicated and ugly.
And also, people often use it like "I all but cried" meaning "I cried", so it is often incorrectly used and superfluous.
Al, be it tonight, albeit I'm all butt, butt erm all yours.
Al , Al , Al are you listening.
