Here is a quote from Obama’s speech he is giving today in South Africa: "Who needs democracy as long as the economy is going good’. I understand that using the adjective ‘good’ instead of the adverb ‘well’ in ‘going good’ is colloquial usage?
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Yes, the good/well adjective adverb differentiation seems to be on its way out in the US and the fast/quickly differentiation seems already to be history. For what it’s worth, to me, “It’s going good” grates a little and “He writes real good.” is like nails on a chalkboard.
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That reminds me about one of the oddities of English. I share Luschen’s preference for the adverb ‘well’ in place of ‘good’. The oddity is that the word ‘goodly’ exists and isn’t an adverb although it sounds like one but a variant of ‘good’ meaning ‘substantial’ as in - She works very long hours and as compensation receives a goodly salary.
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I think what’s also interesting is that the ‘well’ can be an adverb as well as an adjective.
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It can be an adjective in He is well and in The essay is well-written.
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I think in ‘well-written’ the word ‘well’ is an adverb modifying the adjective ‘written’ which also happens to be the past participle.
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But, to me, well-written together functions as an adjective, Torsten.
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I agree that “well-written” is an adjective. The question is if you would classify “well” in “well-written” as an adjective too. It’s quite possible that “well-written” is an adjective that consists of the adverb “well” and the adjective “written”. I think ‘well-written’ is adverb + past participle.
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I fully concur, Torsten.
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