well hey there I’m Emma from English
these little but very common words can
cause English learners quite a few
headaches they’re very similar in
meaning but they’re not used in the same
way it’s easy to confuse them so this
lesson is going to be short and sweet
but we are going to get to the bottom of
this confusing the words good and well
is a really common English error now
there are some clear rules that can help
you to use them correctly but there are
also some exceptions to the rules which
probably leave you feeling a little bit
confused the most helpful thing to keep
in mind is that good is an adjective and
well is an adverb there are two
different parts of speech a quick
reminder adjectives can modify nouns or
tell us more information about and now
so good modifies and noun
something can be good a good kid a good
afternoon
a good night’s sleep all of these things
now as an adverb
well modifies a verb an action can be
done well right she swims well for her
age we have eaten well in both these
examples well is modifying the verb now
nine times out of ten most of the time
the question you need to ask yourself is
am i modifying a noun or an action and
this will help you to make the correct
choice between good and well sweet but
now I have to mention a significant
exception to this rule that good is the
adjective and well is the adverb because
when you’re talking about health the
quality of someone’s health well can be
used as an adjective
– so if someone is well it means they’re
healthy my brother is safe and well he’s
your mother well enough to travel
oh good well can be an adjective when
you’re talking about health okay are you
ready for another exception we can
actually use good with some non action
verbs like B look seem and feel these
are stative verbs so we do that when
we’re connecting a subject to an
adjective we can say don’t worry
everything’s good everything is good
this book is good the children are good
right I feel good today the new office
seems good the hotel you’re staying in
looks so good
right so here we can use good with a
non-action verb the last little
exception or rule to remember is that
good can be used with the verb do when
good is a noun when you’re talking about
morally correct behavior some people
volunteer to do good within their local
community they help others this is to do
good now
word order is really important to get
these words right in your sentence
because they’re different types of words
they are treated differently in our
sentence it’s a really common mistake to
say Sarah plays well football the adverb
doesn’t usually go between the verb and
the object it goes after the object
right it’s something to keep in mind
Sarah
plays football well all right you know
that I like to make my lessons practical
for you so that you can practice what
you’ve learned during the lesson so are
you ready to try it out first sentence
you speak English good
is it correct you speak English well
because we are modifying the verb speak
here in this sentence what about your
English is well is that right
this word is an adjective we know
because we can see the subject followed
by the verb be so I guess we could use
well as an adjective right but English
is a thing not a person so it doesn’t
make sense to say that English is in
good health
we need to use good here your English is
good let’s try another I want you to
fill in the gaps I’m having a day can
you guess the correct word here the
adjective or the adverb good we are
modifying the noun day I’m having a good
day
but I want you to write a similar
sentence with the adverb well right
write it in the comments now you might
need to change the verb in that sentence
to help you my day is going well now the
adverb is modifying the verb right good
job did he do something on his exam well
we’re modifying the verb do here this
careful the word that goes in their
space is good just because we’re talking
about health in the sentence doesn’t
mean we need to use well you spoke at
conference good or well
you spoke well I saw Jeremy last night
he looked well here we could actually
use the adjective good or the adjective
well both are possible but the meaning
is different right think about the
difference in the meaning well means
that he looked healthy good means that
he was pleasant to look at handsome what
about if I said how are you how would
you answer that question would you say
I’m good or I’m well it depends again
you could say either you could use
either adjectives but the meaning is
slightly different I want to finish up
today’s lesson with a fixed expression
that seems to challenge these rules a
little this one to get someone good
which means to trick someone or to fool
them so anyone who tricked their friend
on April Fool’s Day can say I really got
him good
which means you tricked him I also want
to mention before we finish that in
informal spoken English you’ll hear
native English speakers bending the
rules a little you’ll hear them use good
as an adverb how’s Tony going he’s going
good now this is not actually
grammatically correct but it’s
reasonably common and I really recommend
that for you guys
you stick to the rules play by the rules
especially if you are studying English
to sip an exam so in that sense this is
incorrect but you’ll hear it all the
time so that’s it for today’s lesson I
told you it was going to be short and
sweet and I hope it was
helpful as well there are lots of pairs
of words like this in English words that
have similar meanings but they’re used
differently in sentences can you think
of any others if you want me to make a
lesson about any more of these pairs of
words then make sure you tell me about
it in the comments tell me what pairs of
words you want me to make a lesson about
please do subscribe to the channel so
that I can keep you up-to-date with all
of my new lessons and if you’ve got any
special requests for future lessons then
make sure you let me know in the
comments below and once you do that then
come and find me in one of these two lessons here I’ll see you in there
these little but very common words can
cause English learners quite a few
headaches they’re very similar in
meaning but they’re not used in the same
way it’s easy to confuse them so this
lesson is going to be short and sweet
but we are going to get to the bottom of
this confusing the words good and well
is a really common English error now
there are some clear rules that can help
you to use them correctly but there are
also some exceptions to the rules which
probably leave you feeling a little bit
confused the most helpful thing to keep
in mind is that good is an adjective and
well is an adverb there are two
different parts of speech a quick
reminder adjectives can modify nouns or
tell us more information about and now
so good modifies and noun
something can be good a good kid a good
afternoon
a good night’s sleep all of these things
now as an adverb
well modifies a verb an action can be
done well right she swims well for her
age we have eaten well in both these
examples well is modifying the verb now
nine times out of ten most of the time
the question you need to ask yourself is
am i modifying a noun or an action and
this will help you to make the correct
choice between good and well sweet but
now I have to mention a significant
exception to this rule that good is the
adjective and well is the adverb because
when you’re talking about health the
quality of someone’s health well can be
used as an adjective
– so if someone is well it means they’re
healthy my brother is safe and well he’s
your mother well enough to travel
oh good well can be an adjective when
you’re talking about health okay are you
ready for another exception we can
actually use good with some non action
verbs like B look seem and feel these
are stative verbs so we do that when
we’re connecting a subject to an
adjective we can say don’t worry
everything’s good everything is good
this book is good the children are good
right I feel good today the new office
seems good the hotel you’re staying in
looks so good
right so here we can use good with a
non-action verb the last little
exception or rule to remember is that
good can be used with the verb do when
good is a noun when you’re talking about
morally correct behavior some people
volunteer to do good within their local
community they help others this is to do
good now
word order is really important to get
these words right in your sentence
because they’re different types of words
they are treated differently in our
sentence it’s a really common mistake to
say Sarah plays well football the adverb
doesn’t usually go between the verb and
the object it goes after the object
right it’s something to keep in mind
Sarah
plays football well all right you know
that I like to make my lessons practical
for you so that you can practice what
you’ve learned during the lesson so are
you ready to try it out first sentence
you speak English good
is it correct you speak English well
because we are modifying the verb speak
here in this sentence what about your
English is well is that right
this word is an adjective we know
because we can see the subject followed
by the verb be so I guess we could use
well as an adjective right but English
is a thing not a person so it doesn’t
make sense to say that English is in
good health
we need to use good here your English is
good let’s try another I want you to
fill in the gaps I’m having a day can
you guess the correct word here the
adjective or the adverb good we are
modifying the noun day I’m having a good
day
but I want you to write a similar
sentence with the adverb well right
write it in the comments now you might
need to change the verb in that sentence
to help you my day is going well now the
adverb is modifying the verb right good
job did he do something on his exam well
we’re modifying the verb do here this
careful the word that goes in their
space is good just because we’re talking
about health in the sentence doesn’t
mean we need to use well you spoke at
conference good or well
you spoke well I saw Jeremy last night
he looked well here we could actually
use the adjective good or the adjective
well both are possible but the meaning
is different right think about the
difference in the meaning well means
that he looked healthy good means that
he was pleasant to look at handsome what
about if I said how are you how would
you answer that question would you say
I’m good or I’m well it depends again
you could say either you could use
either adjectives but the meaning is
slightly different I want to finish up
today’s lesson with a fixed expression
that seems to challenge these rules a
little this one to get someone good
which means to trick someone or to fool
them so anyone who tricked their friend
on April Fool’s Day can say I really got
him good
which means you tricked him I also want
to mention before we finish that in
informal spoken English you’ll hear
native English speakers bending the
rules a little you’ll hear them use good
as an adverb how’s Tony going he’s going
good now this is not actually
grammatically correct but it’s
reasonably common and I really recommend
that for you guys
you stick to the rules play by the rules
especially if you are studying English
to sip an exam so in that sense this is
incorrect but you’ll hear it all the
time so that’s it for today’s lesson I
told you it was going to be short and
sweet and I hope it was
helpful as well there are lots of pairs
of words like this in English words that
have similar meanings but they’re used
differently in sentences can you think
of any others if you want me to make a
lesson about any more of these pairs of
words then make sure you tell me about
it in the comments tell me what pairs of
words you want me to make a lesson about
please do subscribe to the channel so
that I can keep you up-to-date with all
of my new lessons and if you’ve got any
special requests for future lessons then
make sure you let me know in the
comments below and once you do that then
come and find me in one of these two lessons here I’ll see you in there
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