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  1. John is feeling well.

  2. John is feeling good.

"well" is an adverb and "good" is an adjective.

Is #2 grammatically correct at all or is it ok to construct Subject + Linking Verb + Adjective where adjective is describing the subject?

If #2 is grammatical, what is the difference between the two sentences?

tchrist
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code19
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  • Don't edit a question that has been flagged as a duplicate. Either delete it, or leave it alone. – David M Mar 15 '14 at 21:21

2 Answers2

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Subject + Linking Verb + Adjective is absolutely ok. It even has a name: Predicate Adjective. Both sentences fit that structure, actually. well is used here in its adjectival sense. One of the meanings of the adjective form of well is good, but it more commonly means healthy.

Ben Voigt
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You seem to not know a fundamental fact: good is an adverb, as well as an adjective.

So both of your clauses are grammatically perfect. And technically, there's no difference between them. However, colloquialism interferes with everything in languages - which brings me to the point that "good", in this sense, should mean "happy, ready, ebullient", whereas "well" should mean "healthy".

user68911
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  • Dictionary says good is informally used as an adverb when well is meant. And in fact, you have it exactly opposite. well is an adjective (not only informally) in addition to being an adverb. And the usage is as an adjective. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 22:42
  • Hence colloquialism. And never did I bother mentioning well, because never did you ask about it. – user68911 Mar 14 '14 at 22:43
  • Moreover, the usage is NOT adjectival; rather, it is adverbial. – user68911 Mar 14 '14 at 22:46
  • If that's an adverb, where is the predicate? It's 100% a predicate adjective. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 22:47
  • We'll let some of the high-rep users be the judge of that. I suspect you'll be soundly trounced for denying the existence of predicate adjectives. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 22:52
  • Never did I deny their existence, either! The fact that you can't understand that one can "feel strong" and "feel strongly" dumbfounds me, though. Also, by denying the possibility of good being used adverbially in this sense, you appear to be a retard, indeed! – user68911 Mar 14 '14 at 22:58
  • Neither of those are grammatically correct, they are both sentence fragments. When you try to make a complete sentence, you'll notice that "feel strongly" needs something more, because "feel" is a transitive verb. For example "I feel a stomachache acutely." or "I feel strongly about the upcoming election." Since there is nothing else for these linking verbs to be linking to, the words must be used here as predicate adjectives. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 23:02
  • Then haven't I answered your question already? And my examples of adverbial use are incomplete, yes. Though yours could have equally been, too, for all I knew! – user68911 Mar 14 '14 at 23:04
  • No, you haven't answered "Where is the predicate?" with any plausible alternative to "well is used as a predicate adjective." – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 23:06
  • We're talking about the sentences in the question, which are complete sentences and not phrases/sentence fragments. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 23:06
  • Then please forgive me, as I assumed they were incomplete for clarity's sake. – user68911 Mar 14 '14 at 23:08
  • And I haven't even addressed saying that "feeling" is an action that can be done "well" (as opposed to "badly"?). Oh sure, if you're talking about a physical exam it can be. But that clearly is not the situation here. – Ben Voigt Mar 14 '14 at 23:08