Grammar Rules: Good or Well?

Many people have difficulty choosing between the adjective good and the adjective/adverb well. The grammar rules below explain how to use good and well correctly.

1. Grammar Rules: Good or Well?- Choose the adjective good to modify a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun but never as a synonym for healthy.

The word good is always an adjective; that is, it modifies a noun, noun phrase, or pronoun. Further, adjectives such as good only follow linking verbs; adjectives never follow action verbs. Linking verbs simply connect the subject and predicate of a clause. The most common linking verbs are the "state of being" verbs: am, are, be, been, being, is, was, and were. Additionally, the verbs of sensation (sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch) are usually linking verbs; in such cases, verbs of sensation are almost always followed by good.

Consider these sentences:

I am good.
He was a good football player.
She looks good.
Her perfume smells good.
The stereo speakers sound good.
The pizza tastes good.
I feel good.

In the first example, "I am good," the adjective good is the correct choice if it is intended to modify the pronoun I and describe either a general sense of well-being or some talent; however, it is incorrect to use good as a synonym for healthy. In the next example, "He was a good football player," the adjective good modifies the noun phrase football player. In the remaining examples, the verbs of sensation act as linking verbs (not action verbs); therefore, good is the right choice because it modifies nouns and pronouns in those sentences.

2. Grammar Rules: Good or Well?- Choose the adverb well to modify verbs and the adjective well as a synonym for healthy.

The word well is typically used as an adverb; to wit, it modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. Thus, the adverb well is always the correct choice to modify an action verb. The word well is an adjective, though, when used as a synonym for healthy.

Consider these sentences:

They play well together.
He slept well.
I swam well.
She wrote well.
I am well.
You look well.

In the first four examples, the adverb well modifies the action verbs play, slept, swam, and wrote. In the last two examples, however, the adjective form of well follows the linking verbs am and look because well acts as a synonym for healthy.

Source(s):

Brians, Paul. "Good/Well," Common Errors in English Usage
Fogarty, Mignon. "Good Versus Well," Grammar Girl
"Using Good and Well," University of the Sciences in Philadelphia