Monday, March 22, 2010

public service announcement

If you want to know the truth, the answer is yes. As an "English person," I am usually correcting everyone's grammar in my head when he or she is speaking with me. I can't help it. I've tried. While judgmental, I assure you I am not biased; I'm usually correcting my own grammar, too.

Still, I sometimes wonder if this is off-putting to my friends and family in the same way it has always made me nervous to get into too deep of a conversation with a psych major, a liberal, or a mortician who is in all likelihood envisioning oh what she would do to me if she could get me on her slab.

All of this being said, I do feel the need tugging at me almost constantly--I feel it is a calling* even--to un-apologetically clarify something for everyone despite the risk of sounding pedantic or overly bookmarmish.

The Difference between "Well" and "Good" and How to Decide

"Well" is an adverb, which means that you should use it whenever you are describing a verb. For instance, if someone says to you "Hello, how are you?" you should reply "I'm well" because you are describing your state of being--that is, the verb of how you are doing. Ditto for "How did your date with James Bond go last night?" Should the heavens be favoring you, you would reply "It went very very well, thank you" Well describes the verb went.

"Good" is an adjective, which means you should use it whenever you are describing a noun. For instance, "This is a good Girl Scout cookie" or "This is a good day to move back to Las Vegas." In the first sentence, good is the adjective describing the noun Girl Scout cookie. In the second, good describes the noun day.

*Due to my said fear of gorillas, I am unable to travel to remote outstretches and build houses with running water for those in need. In lieu of this decidedly superior act of altruism, please allow me this one small contribution to humanity.

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