Good vs Well | Common English Grammar Mistakes

Shaw English Online

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Do you speak English good?

Or maybe you speak good English.

Or maybe you speak English well.

One of those sentences is wrong.

I sure hope you know which one.

But if you don't

or get confused like many students and native speakers.

My name is Fanny.

And in this video, I'm gonna tell you about a very common English

mistake that many students make even native speakers.

Mostly when speaking English.

It's the difference between the words 'good' and 'well'.

Do you know the difference between the two words?

It's not so much a writing mistake.

It's more of a speaking mistake.

Especially, in familiar contexts, but you need to know about it and to fix it,

if you want to show off and speak good English.

So let's get started with a few examples.

‘He is a good tennis player.’

Do you think that sentence is right?

Because we have the adjective ‘good’ and then the noun ‘tennis player’.

An adjective, as you know, describes a noun.

Okay so how is the tennis player?

The tennis player is good.

When you say, ‘You speak good English’

That's also a correct sentence.

You have a noun – ‘English’.

And an adjective describing that noun – ‘good’.

So how is your English?

Third sentence is also a correct sentence.

‘Your English is good’.

As I've just said, an adjective that describes a noun.

Now if we say, ‘This tennis player plays well’.

Is this correct?

It is correct because in this case,

you have no adjectives, but you have an adverb.

Now an adverb describes a verb, another adverb, or an adjective.

In this sentence, it describes the verb 'plays'.

Okay, how do you play?

So 'well' is an adverb.

‘You speak English well’ is also correct.

The adverb, ‘well’, describes the verb 'to speak'.

Okay so there is a difference.

The adjective is good.

The adverb is well.

So when you say, ‘You play good’,

do you think that's right?

It's incorrect and you will hear many native speakers tell you that.

Tell you, ‘You play good’.

But this is incorrect.

Remember what we said, ‘good’ is an adjective.

It describes a noun.

Do you see a noun in that sentence?

But we have a verb, ‘you play’, so what you need is not an adjective,

it's an adverb.

‘You play well’.

If you say, ‘You speak English good’,

again incorrect.

Because you need to describe the verb ‘speak’.

So you need an adverb.

‘You speak English well’.

So it's very important for you to know the difference between adjectives

Especially in this case, with ‘good’ as an adjective

and ‘well’ as an adverb’.

So please try to remember these rules.

Try to use it properly and speak good English.

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