LANGUAGE CORNER
‘Well,’ the Adjective
All's Good That Ends Well?
A couple of years back, an otherwise bright student in an introductory editing course insisted that there was something wrong with using “well” as an adjective, as in “He isn’t well.” That was nonsense, but just a puzzling peculiarity, it seemed.
Time passed, and the same odd notion turned up in print. “We often tell our friends,” the essayist observed with a snicker, “ ‘You look well,’ when not referring to their vision.” Only a joke, maybe, but why encourage adolescent literal-mindedness?
“Well” is an adverb, of course — she runs well, he sings well, and maybe for a frontier scout, he looks well.
But the word is also an adjective — a synonym for “healthy” and an antonym for “sick” (and the reason “unwell” exists). Of course we tell our friends, “You look well.” And when they’re not well, the missives we send them aren’t get-good cards.
Though most common nowadays in discussions of health, “well” can also be used as a broader adjective. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage notes that it has been both adjective and adverb since the time of Alfred the Great. Hardy indeed.
The superstition about “well” seems more widespread than common sense might suggest. Why? A craving for absolutes, perhaps, leading to misguided pedantry. It is well to resist such temptations.
— CJR, Nov./Dec. 2003
