Good vs well | English grammar | Cursos inglés Vitoria

It is hard to know when to use good vs. well. Here we explain the main way to know the difference and give you plenty of examples to work with.

GOOD

Use ‘good’ as an adjective. Adjectives describe/modify nouns.
- We had a good meeting. (What kind of meeting? A good one)
- I appreciate all the good feedback you gave me. (What kind of feedback? Good feedback)
- Hope you have a good day. (What kind of day? A good one)
- Sarah did a good job on the report. (What kind of job? A good one)

We can also use ‘good’ with stative verbs. These stative verbs act as a link between the subject and the adjective.
- verbs include: feel, look, see,. like, know and many more.
- Click here to learn more about stative verbs
Take a look at these examples:
- I feel good today.
- The new office looks good.
- I prefer good shoes to cheap ones.
- How does Ben like his job? He’s good.
- Wow! That pasta smells good!

‘Well’ is an adverb. This means it can modify a verb or an adjective.
First let’s look at when it modifies a verb. It answers the question how the action happened.
- They treat their employees well. (How do they treat them? well)
- Julie responds well to feedback. (How does Julie respond? well)
- They will pay you well for your services. (How will they pay? well)
When there is an object, well goes after the object.
- She plays the piano really well. (well goes after the object ‘piano’)
- Ken sang ‘You’re so beautiful’ so well that I like it better than the original. (well goes after the name of the song, You’re so beautiful’.)

Now let’s look at ‘well’ as it modifies adjectives.
Usually well is written with a hyphen in these cases because it is a compound adjective.
Use well + hyphen + past participle.
When ‘well’ is used this way it means that something was done in a proper way.
- Scott likes his steak well-done. (How done does he like the steak? well-done.)
- Sarah is well-liked by all her classmates. (How is she liked? well-liked)
- In Spain, he is a well-known. (How is he known? well-known)
- Both of his partens are well-educated professionals. (How educated are his parents? well-educated)

An exception

When we speak about health, ‘well’ can be used as an adjective.
However, it refers to someone’s general health.
- Carol is well and will be back at work next week. (we understand that Carol is recovering from having some kind of physical or mental problem.)
- All is well. We can all go back to the office now. (This implies that there was something wrong and the situation has been rectified.)

Sometimes we can use both ‘good’ and ‘well’. However, they have different meanings.
In the first example ‘Johnny looks well.’ we understand that Johnny is healthy. We can use ‘well’ because ‘well’ is functioning as an adjective.
In the second example ‘Johnny looks good.’ we understand that Johnny is attractive today and I like how he looks. We can use ‘good’ because ‘good’ is following the stative verb ‘looks’.

Note the difference between:
- She did a good job. (the job was high quality)
- She did the job well. (She performed the job in a correct way)
Remember
- good – what something is
- well – how something is done

Remember to put ‘well’ after an object if the sentence has it.
- She plays volleyball well. (well comes after the object ‘volleyball’)
- I know her well. (well comes after the object ‘her’)
Don’t use ‘good’ instead of well
- He did ~~good~~ on the test.
- He did well.
Don’t confuse ‘good’ and ‘well’
- Do you want more coffee? No, I’m good. (I had enough)
- How are you feeling after surgery? I’m well. (healthy)
After linking verbs (be, seem, look, feel, taste, smell, appear), use good, not well — unless you mean “healthy.”
- The pizza tastes good.
- The pizza tastes ~~well~~.
- I feel good. (optimistic)
- I feel well. (healthy)

Now that you have learned about «Good vs. Well», check out our other English Grammar posts and videos to keep learning!