I am doing good/well

Question

Please correct me if I'm wrong, Clive. Since 'doing' is dealing with a human sense - i.e., one's mental state, or one's physical state - then you could use the adjective 'good' to describe the verb doing. So if you are feeling happy, you could say "I am doing good"; and if are recovering from surgery, you could say "I am well."

Thanks!

Kooyeen · Accepted Answer

Hi,
maybe I'm wrong, but I think "I'm doing good" and "I'm doing well" have the same meaning. It's just that "good" used that way is not prescriptively correct. I think it's used in informal speech, like "Listen to me good..."

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Since 'doing' is dealing with a human sense - i.e., one's mental state, or one's physical state - then you could use the adjective 'good' to describe the verb doing. So if you are feeling happy, you could say "I am doing good"; and if you are recovering from surgery, you could say "I am well."

When you say 'I am well', 'well' is an adjective describing the pronoun 'I'. By definition, an adjective cannot describe a verb.

When you say 'I am doing well', 'well ' is an adverb that modifies the verb 'do'.

Thus, 'I am doing good' is considered substandard because you are using an adjective to modify a verb. You will hear some people say it, but I wouldn't recommend it. For example, don't say it in your job interview for a position where a good education is an important requirement.

Bet wishes, Clive

Thecandymancan · Answer

I thought saying "I am doing good" is perfectly acceptable because 'doing' is a sense.

Goodman · Answer

Hi guys,

Am I one of the misinformed minority or one among the incorrect majority?

Jackson's mom's apple pie tastes really good!

Mary looked fantastic at her wedding

It feels good to be home after spending a year in Iraq!

Sushi with Seki for dinner sounds good....

I think verbs describe senses are ok with adjective. Or this is a false statement?

Goodman · Answer

ThecandymancanI thought saying "I am doing good" is perfectly acceptable because 'doing' is a sense.

Hi Thecandymancan,

"Doing" is not a "sense" word, not even "touching".

I am doing fine- it's ok, I am doing good - is substandard as Clive already pointed out.

Clive · Answer

Hi Goodman

All your examples (about apple pie, etc.) sound goodto me.

Clive

Goodman · Answer

CliveHi Goodman

All your examples (about apple pie, etc.) sound goodto me.

Clive

Clive,

Here it is! a piping hot slice with a big scoop of coconut ice cream coming up! You are making me hungry....

Anonymous · Answer

You cannot describe a verb using an adjective.  Good is an adjective, so to say I am doing good is incorrect.  You as a person can have the characteristic of being good.  Good is describing you, the person (not the verb) so it is ok to say "I am good" but not "I am doing good."

Kooyeen · Answer

Hey, how ya doing? Doing good / Doing great / etc.
Doing good is perfectly idiomatic. Just be careful and don't use it in higher registers, for example in formal writing, English tests, etc., as Clive said.

From Merriam Webster:

Adverbial good has been under attack from the schoolroom since the 19th century. Insistence on well rather than good has resulted in a split in connotation: well is standard, neutral, and colorless, while good is emotionally charged and emphatic. This makes good the adverb of choice in sports <“I'm seeing the ball real good” is what you hear ? Roger Angell>. In such contexts as <listen up. And listen good ? Alex Karras> <lets fly with his tomatoes before they can flee. He gets Clarence good ? Charles Dickinson> good cannot be adequately replaced by well. Adverbial good is primarily a spoken form; in writing it occurs in reported and fictional speech and in generally familiar or informal contexts.

Anonymous · Answer

people seem to forget is that it's standard to use adjectives—such as good—after linking verbs (5, 6). When you do it, they are called predicate adjectives, and they refer back to the noun before the linking verb. That's why, even though good is primarily an adjective, it is OK to say, "I am good": am is a linking verb, and you use adjectives after linking verbs.

Aside from the linking-verb-action-verb trickiness, another reason people get confused about this topic is that well can be both an adverb and a predicate adjective. As I said earlier, in the sentence He swam well, well is an adverb that describes how he swam. But when you say, “I am well,” you're using well as a predicate adjective. That's fine, but most sources say well is reserved to mean “healthy” when it's used in this way (1, 3, 4). So if you are recovering from a long illness and someone is inquiring about your health, it's appropriate to say, “I am well,” but if you're just describing yourself on a generally good day and nobody's asking specifically about your health, a more appropriate response is, “I am good.”

Finally, it's very important to remember that it's wrong to use good as an adverb after an action verb. For example, it's wrong to say, “He swam good.” Cringe! The proper sentence is He swam well, because swam is an action verb and it needs an adverb to describe it. Remember, you can only use adjectives such as good and bad after linking verbs, you can't use them after action verbs.

quoted from Grammer Girl and also paraphrased from my High School English Teacher

I am doing good/well

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