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I was reading through a few short stories when I realised that one of the stories had these two sentences:" I do not feel good" and "I do not feel well" I was quite puzzled and I would like to know if they are both correct. If they are different in anyway, please provide a specimen sentence for the two sentences.

David Toh
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1 Answers1

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I do not feel good and I do not feel well are equivalent. They both indicate your well-being. Well and good both modify feel. However, you can use feel good in another construction like so:

I do not feel good about the path I have taken.

Here, you are not expressing anything about your health, rather you are expressing how you are feeling about your interaction with something else, like "the path".

Kit Z. Fox
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Pankaj Sharma
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  • A related Ngram lends support to the claim that they're both frequently used ( http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=feel+so+well%2Cfeel+too+good&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3&share= ). Good and well are both (predicative) adjectives here (cf I feel cold). Often, a slight adjustment is made (I don't feel too well, I don't feel so good, I don't feel well at all) but this is only a matter of style, not a requirement. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 26 '13 at 13:10
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    I am a bit unclear about your explanation. Do you mean that "I don't feel good" usually conveys that the person is referring to his emotional state or how his day is going.While "I don't feel well" usually conveys that the person is referring to his physical state, that he is sick. – David Toh Mar 26 '13 at 13:11
  • Usage: good, AmE; well, BrE. – Kris Mar 26 '13 at 13:13
  • @DavidToh Uh, no, David. The sentences are equivalent as they stand. However, my opinion is that the feel good version may be extended in the way I suggested while the other may not be. – Pankaj Sharma Mar 26 '13 at 13:21
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    for better perception of both i.e. good vs well follow the link, also mentioned above by Matt Эллен – Raghav Mar 26 '13 at 13:24
  • @Raghav Thanks buddy. @DavidToh David, the link that Raghav posted explains it very well and the point about good being an adjective and well being an adverb results in the kind of construction I explained. – Pankaj Sharma Mar 26 '13 at 13:28
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    @PankajSharma better way to thanks here may be upvote mine comment friend. – Raghav Mar 26 '13 at 13:30