Since my post from last week (I Am Well vs. I Am Good) got such a great response, I’m going to tackle another adverb misconception. Once again, linking verbs are causing some confusion.

Have you ever heard someone say “I feel badly”? For example, “I feel badly that Cindy lost her dog.” I’m here, with help from Grammar Girl, to show that even though this is a nice sentiment, it’s not correct grammar.

The difference between action verbs and linking verbs.

To understand why you should say “I feel bad” for Cindy because she lost her dog, you need to know the difference between action and linking verbs.

Action verbs show action.

The dog smells his dinner. (The dog is sniffing his food.)
May I feel your sweater? (I want to touch the sweater with my fingers.)
The girl runs by every night. (The girl moves quickly down the street each night.)

Linking verbs show states of being or emotion. They link a subject to an adjective.

I am tired.
I feel sad.
She looks so happy!

Sense verbs (to taste, to feel, to smell, to hear) can be action verbs or linking verbs.

You can test to see if a sense verb is an action verb or a linking verb by replacing a form of “to be” for the verb in question. In most cases, any form of “to be” (am, are, was, is) will be a linking verb.

• The soup smells good. —> The soup is good.  
  • The substitution works, and we know “smells” is a linking verb and good describes the state of the soup. The soup isn’t actually smelling anything.
• The dog smells the skunk. —> The dog is the skunk.  
  • The substitution doesn’t work; a dog isn’t a skunk. Here, we know that the verb is an action verb; the dog is actively smelling something.

Let’s try this with the “I feel bad” dilemma.

• I feel bad that you lost your dog. —> I am bad that you lost your dog.
  The substitution sounds a little funny, but we know that “bad” is describing an emotion or state of being. “Bad” is a predicate adjective describing “I”, and we understand that “I” feel sympathy for Cindy.

In “I feel badly” “badly” is an adverb describing the action verb “feel”. “I feel badly” indicates that “I” has a hard time physically exploring by touch. Usually, when people say, “I feel badly”, they aren’t trying to communicate that they are clumsy with their fingers. They are trying to express an emotion.

Word Nerd Workout

Those “sense” verbs are tricky!  Test your Word Nerd prowess and decide if the verbs in the following examples are linking or action verbs.

1. Roxie smells the treats in your pocket.
2. I feel energetic this morning!
3. You look sleepy today.
4. Those shoes smell bad.

Thanks for getting nerdy with me today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oldest son and I have a running debate.  Whenever I say, “How are you?”, he replies, “I’m well.” I cringe, every time, because I don’t think that’s correct grammar, even though people frequently say “I’m well”.  He knows it irks me, and that’s why he says it.  But I’ve done some research, and I’m here today to finally prove that my way is the right way.

What was my word of the year?  Humble?  😉

Anyway, here’s the language low-down, with help from Grammar Girl.

Action Verbs vs Linking Verbs

Most verbs describe an action:

• run
• talk
• drive

Adverbs modify, or describe, action verbs:

• run well
• talk quietly
• drive carefully

Usually, adverbs end in -ly, but sometimes they don’t, which makes things tricky.

There are special verbs called linking verbs that connect words.  The most common linking verbs come in a form of the verb “to be”, however other verbs like “look” and “become” count as linking verbs too.

• She is pretty.  (“is” links she and pretty)
• The sky is blue.  (“is” links sky and blue)
• He looks tired.  (“looks” links he and tired)

If you can substitute some form of “to be” for the verb in a sentence, and the sentence still makes sense, it’s probably a linking verb.

The Confusing Part

Usually, an adjective is used after a linking verb to describe the noun in front of the verb.  (FYI, it’s called a predicate adjective.  Use that at the next party you go to.)  In the examples above, pretty, blue, and tired are all adjectives.

Complication: “well” can be an adverb OR a predicate adjective.

• He runs well  (well = adverb, describing run)
• I am well (well = predicate adjective describing I, but most resources say that in this case “well” means “healthy”, not “I’m having a great day.” )

The thing to remember is linking verbs describe emotions or states of being.  So, when someone asks, “How are you?”, the proper way to answer if you’re having a good day is “I am good”, because “good” is a predicate adjective describing I.  Any adjective will do here… happy, tired, fabulous, etc.  Just not “well”, unless you’ve spent a month in bed with the flu and now you’re healthy again.

So, you know what that means, son…

One more thing

Good is an adjective, used to describe a noun.  Therefore phrases like “He did good” or “She swam good” are not grammatically correct.  “Did” and “swam” are action verbs, and therefore they need an adverb to describe them.  Something like “fabulously” or “well” works here.  😉

Of course, most of the time where I live, when people say this, they are offering a compliment, and I try to treasure the praise and ignore the grammar.

Word Nerd Workout

In the phrase Nobody is perfect

• what is the verb, and is it an action verb or a linking verb?
• what part of speech is “perfect”

Also, which of these sentences are grammatically correct?

1. I am dandy.
2. I drive awesome.
3. He looks sleepy.
4. She did great!

Thanks for getting nerdy with me.