fine\/finely<\/em>\u00a0I need glasses to read his letters).<\/p>\nThat\u2019s a lot of ways we can go with three short, simple words. So which is (or are) correct in answering a basic question such as \u201cHow are you?\u201d<\/p>\n
This inquiry typically aims at our sense of physical or emotional well-being (i.e., our general condition). We\u2019ll address it according to our definitions in context.<\/p>\n
If we say \u201cI am good,\u201d we are conveying we are virtuous, satisfactory, proper, kind, worthy, or well behaved.<\/p>\n
If we respond \u201cI am well,\u201d we are often saying we are in good health, of sound body and mind, or well-off in general. If we slightly adjust our response to \u201cI am doing well,\u201d we can also mean we are conducting ourselves in a good or proper manner; thoroughly, carefully, adequately, or commendably; or with justice or reason.<\/p>\n
How about if we say \u201cI am fine\u201d? The dictionary dictates we\u2019re communicating we are excellent, admirable, or of high quality if answering in adjective form. If responding adverbially, we\u2019re saying we are existing in an excellent manner.<\/p>\n
Interpreting the original question as applying to our general condition, we can deduce that \u201cI am well\u201d and \u201cI am fine\u201d would be suitable, accurate answers by their definitions.<\/p>\n
The same would apply if the question were cast as \u201cHow are you doing?\u201d If we respond \u201cI am doing good,\u201d in spoken language, many people will understand what we mean. However, technically, we also could be implying we\u2019re doing something beneficial. This is where writing allows us to be even more precise by using \u201cI am fine\u201d or \u201cI am well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate will carry on in common usage and stylebooks.\u00a0The<\/em>\u00a0AP Stylebook,\u00a0<\/em>for example, advises that\u00a0good<\/em>\u00a0should not be used as an adverb\u00a0except<\/em>\u00a0in a sentence such as \u201cI am [or\u00a0feel<\/em>] good,\u201d in which case we can be saying we are in\u00a0good<\/em>\u00a0health. It also explains that using the adverb\u00a0well\u00a0<\/em>in \u201cI feel well\u201d could mean either \u201cI feel in good health\u201d or \u201cMy sense of touch is good,\u201d in essence suggesting\u00a0feel\u00a0<\/em>can muddy meaning.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nGood<\/em>,\u00a0well<\/em>, and\u00a0fine<\/em>\u00a0will remain interchanging parts in language\u2014especially spoken\u2014including as answers to \u201cHow are you?\u201d For the careful writer and astute grammarian, however, we champion using the words as the dictionary designs them to be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nBased on our current discussion, choose the word that best suits the context. Note that each statement can have more than one correct answer.<\/p>\n
1) She is a (good \/ well \/ fine) person.<\/p>\n
2) Jack does his job (good \/ well \/ fine).<\/p>\n
3) That is a (good \/ well \/ fine) make of car.<\/p>\n
4) They say that exercise and a good diet can make a person (good \/ well \/ fine).<\/p>\n
5) The citizens think (good \/ well \/ fine) of the village board\u2019s trustees.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pop Quiz Answers<\/span><\/p>\n1) She is a (good \/ well \/ fine<\/strong>) person.
\nAny one of the adjectival descriptors can serve the sentence depending on the communicator\u2019s intent. \u201cShe\u201d could be pious, virtuous, kind, or beneficent (good<\/strong>); sound in body and mind or well-off\/in a satisfactory position (well<\/strong>); or excellent, admirable, or of high or superior quality (fine<\/strong>).<\/p>\n2) Jack does his job (well<\/strong>).
\nJack does his job thoroughly, carefully, commendably, excellently, or in a good or satisfactory manner; we would therefore use well<\/em> as an adverb describing how he performs at work.<\/p>\n3) That is a (good \/ fine<\/strong>) make of car.
\nThe make of car is satisfactory in quality (good<\/strong>) or excellent, admirable, of high or superiority quality (fine<\/strong>); either adjective will suffice.<\/p>\n4) They say that exercise and a good diet can make a person (well<\/strong>).
\nHere we want to say exercise and a good diet lead to a person becoming in good health or of sound body and mind; we would then use well<\/em> as an adjective.<\/p>\n5) The citizens think (well<\/strong>) of the village board\u2019s trustees.
\nWe\u2019re aiming to convey how the citizens think of the board and so need an adverb. The citizens think commendably or excellently of it, making well<\/em> the word of choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We at GrammarBook strive to cover both current and established topics of relevance to you, our dedicated band of careful writers and grammarians. Periodically we still receive inquiries about when we should use the adjectives\u00a0good, well,\u00a0and\u00a0fine.\u00a0We, perhaps as you do, also still hear and read these words used incorrectly. We addressed the subject of\u00a0Good\u00a0vs.\u00a0Well in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2557"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5850,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557\/revisions\/5850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}