Going wrong

Question

Hi all,
are the following sentences equivalents?
Everything is going bad to me == Everything is going wrong to me

And conversely
Everything is going (well/right/good/ok) to me
Does they mean the same?

Please I need some clarification.
Thanks in advance.

Caduca · Accepted Answer

yes,but you would say "Everything is going bad WITH me" usually

Mister Micawber · Answer

Or 'for me'.

Meantolearn · Answer

Hi,

So, the generic pattern is: [be + going + adj/adv + with/for someone] and it doesn't matter whether it''s good or bad.

Is it correct?

Does anyone know the reason why 'to' is not appropriate?

Mister Micawber · Answer

'Be going + ADVERB + with/for', MTL-- those are all adverbs.

Bad things happen to us, but the 'going...for/with' collocation reflects in concept the events/experiences we are 'passing through' rather than those that are 'acting upon' us. That is why I see 'to' as inappropriate. Because idioms have a mind of their own, I see no grammatical reason why 'to' is not used here.

Meantolearn · Answer

Hi Mr. M.,

Thanks for your reply.

[Something goes wrong/bad/good for/with someone]

I suppose 'go' means 'become'.

'Become' is a copula verb, or can be called a 'linking verb'. It usually appear in this pattern:

For instance, The weather became warmer. Subject = the weather, V = became, Complement = warmer. Warmer is used as the complement of the subject 'the weather'. Hence warmer is used to modify the subject 'the weather' not the verb 'became'. So 'warmer' is an adjective.

'Go' has same kind of behavior. For instance, The bread's gone(=become) mouldy/bad/sour.
Mouldy/bad/sour all function as adjectvies which modify the subject 'the bread'. And they are not adverbs.

I looked up two dictionaries. They both consider 'wrong' in 'something goes wrong' as an adverb. But both dictionaries agree that either 'go' is an linking verb or go = become. If 'go' is a linking verb and = become, then 'wrong' must be an adjective in 'something goes wrong'. They are sort of contradicts themselves. Aren't they?

Well, it definitely makes me go crazy!

Mister Micawber · Answer

Oops! Yes, I think you're right-- it's a copula here, hence predicate adjectives.

Going wrong

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