The Difference Between Good and Well

This is going to be another short (and late) post due to the fact that I am moving, but one that I feel very passionately about.

Here’s a bit of information that might be a bit of a shock to some of you.

The word “good” and the word “well” are different.

And sometimes you want to use one instead of the other.

Shocking, right? Who would have thought?

I’m not usually a big Grammar Nazi, but there are certain grammatical mistakes that drive me up the wall. This includes but is not limited to “funner/funnest”, “I vs me”, and “good vs well.”

And before anyone start arguing about not needing your novel to grammatically perfect that’s what editors are for, just don’t. Most editors don’t even deal with grammatical or spelling errors or anything of like. They’re mostly focused on your characters, or your plot, or your flow. Some of them will correct stuff like that, but most editors, especially in a big publishing company, won’t bother at all. In big companies, they can usually get copy editors to go through and fix all of that.

So to a degree you’re right. But more to the degree of “Worry more about your plot than your grammar”, not “Who cares about being grammatically correct?”

No one wants to read something with horrible grammar or spelling. I’ve never been employed by a publishing company to read, edit, and oversee the publishing of a book. I’ve never had to read a ton of manuscripts. But I have read and edited a lot of stories and essays… and it’s painful when they make a lot of grammatical and spelling mistakes. Believe me when I say that it automatically makes you think certain things about the author and those certain things are not always kind. That is a really bad way to start of a relationship with anyone, let alone someone who has to really like something you wrote over the dozens/hundreds other submissions s/he’s gotten in the past few weeks.

Also, when there are a lot of grammatical/spelling mistakes, it’s hard to focus on fixing those rather than issues that might be more important like characters and plot.

Not to mention that if you ever want to consider self-publishing, that you have to make everything absolutely perfect yourself.

So yes, you do have to pay attention to this when you’re writing.

(The easiest way to avoid making the mistake in your writing is by avoiding making the mistake when you talk. That also has the added bonus of not annoying people like me.)

The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is that good is an adjective and well in an adverb.

Good always refers to a noun and well always refers to an action.

I did a good job.

I did my job well.

See the difference?

Job is a noun, and the job was good.

Doing a job is an action. To do is a verb. The job was done well.

In math the other day, my friend told me that she thought she was going to do good on the test we have next week.

This was incorrect unless she was planning on using the test to do some act of good in society like teaching a high school dropout off of it.

Do is a verb. Use well.

She runs (runs is a verb) well.

Fun fact: Disney teaches children incorrect grammar.

At the end of Mulan after Mulan has saved China and been honored by the Emperor, Shang runs up to her and says what? “You… you fight good.”

Wrong. He should have said you fight well.

There are a few exceptions. When you’re talking about your or someone else’s health, always use “well”. When talking about emotional state, use “good”.

I don’t feel well today. I feel sick.

I don’t feel good about cheating.

Please, please make an effort to keep these correct. Believe me; it will make you look a lot more intelligent in your writing and talking to other people.

(Here’s a little secret though: To avoid having to make a decision about good vs well, use the word fine or great ;))