Why It's Good to Speak Well

The one thing that I absolutely cannot stand-- my greatest pet peeve-- is when I hear someone say "good" when they mean "well". I blame my mom-- she home schooled me for grades 3, 4, and, 5. She taught me GOOD grammar. She taught me grammar WELL. She did not teach me grammar good!

I hear people confusing these terms almost every day, and I physically cringe every time it grates against my ear drums. I just want to shout "WELL!" at them, but I know that if I did that every time it happened, I would soon be the most hated person in this school.

Good is an adjective people.

Well is the adverb.

You can't play sports good, or write an essay good, or see good with glasses on.

It pains me just to type these horrifying phrases.

My mom started going to college this year to become an interpreter (ASL), and one of the required courses for the program is English. So she goes to the class and what are they learning?

"This is a verb. This is a noun. This is an adjective. This is an adverb. etcn a. etc."

Seriously? These people are high school graduates, at the least. You'd think they knew this stuff. That's exactly what my mom was thinking to herself, until the woman next to her turned as said, "I shouldn't have to take this course. I did really good in English."

Well, obviously you didn't do WELL enough, if you're speaking like that. This basic level grammar course is exactly the level you're at.

It terrifies me to think how illeriterate our generation has become. And it's not just good vs. well that people have trouble with. Half the people in my moms COLLEGE level english class couldn't even wrap their heads aroun the subject of a command.

"What is the subject of "Sit in that chair."
"Chair?"
"No, it's 'You'."
"But you didn't say 'you'."
"It's implied. (You) Sit in that chair."
"But you didn't say 'you' the first time."
"That's because it's implied."
"... I don't get it."

Seriously? Do these people even know what "implied" means? Apparently not.

So basically, every time someone says something like, "I did really good on that last test!" it makes me want to rip my ears out. It takes every bit of control I have not to jump out of my seat, run up to them, and shout thorugh clenched teath: "You did WELL!"

I'd say my self control is nothing short of amazing.