I am doing good vs. well

[wizard8451]

Would it be "I am doing good" or "I am doing well"? Do both work for different situations?

 

[nichec]

Would it be "I am doing good" or "I am doing well"? Do both work for different situations?

"Doing good" can mean that you are "doing good deeds/acts", while "doing well" clearly means "doing fine".

 

[Solbrillante]

Hi! Nichec is right, although in US English you will often hear I'm doing good...this is just improper English, and I must say I have caught myself using this (I hate to admit it)!

Sol

 

[panjandrum]

Have a look in these threads:
Greeting - How are you? I'm good
Greeting - How are you? good or fine?

I'm good, I'm doing good, are very common now.
Doesn't mean I have to like them

 

[Solbrillante]

Have a look in these threads:
Greeting - How are you? I'm good
Greeting - How are you? good or fine?

I'm good, I'm doing good, are very common now.
Doesn't mean I have to like them

Thanks for the links. I have been asked How are you doing? and I say I'm good eek, how about you? and they respond I'm doing fine (with the emphasis on the fine part). Nothing like a short, sweet grammar lesson!

Sol

 

[wizard8451]

Since 'doing' is a word that deals with the senses, it is acting as a linking verb; and since adjectives following linking verbs, I don't see anything wrong with using 'good' to describe your state. If you are feeling happy, then you are feeling good. If you are feeling healthy, then you are doing well.

Is the above statements correct?

 

[novice_81]

Since 'doing' is a word that deals with the senses, it is acting as a linking verb; and since adjectives following linking verbs, I don't see anything wrong with using 'good' to describe your state. If you are feeling happy, then you are feeling good. If you are feeling healthy, then you are doing well.

Is the above statements correct?

Is it correct guys?

 

[Forero]

To me, doing has not yet graduated to linking verb status. As an answer to "How are you doing?", "I am doing good" sounds strange to me. "I am doing well" sounds fine. "I am feeling good" answers "How are you feeling?", which is a different question.

There may be some of the idea of "feeling" in "How are you doing?", but it retains enough active meaning for me that I feel "I am doing good" sounds as strange as "Things are going good."

 

[Miss Matty Jenkyns]

Is this not a case of AE versus BE?
After long exposure to speakers of AE I accept without argument, that when they say"I'm doing good", it is a conventional answer that means that there are no special incidents or problems in their life - NOT that they are fully occupied in doing good deeds. Were they to ask me how I am doing I would reply (being BE), "I'm doing well", thank you.

 

[Nunty]

Good morning, Miss Matty.

I think that when we people (I don't say it) say "I'm doing good" in AE it is slang, or at least informal. So far, at least in my experience, the good/well adjective/adverb distinction is alive and well in AE, except in certain informal set phrases like this one.

But yes, it is said; and yes, it means "I'm doing well". The links in post 4 could be useful and you can find many more by putting /good well/ (without the /s) into the English Definitions dictionary at the top of this page.