Re: 'I speak good English' or 'I speak English well'?

On Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:40:16 GMT, MS
<No.Way.Jose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

Tony Mountifield emailed this:
In article <cU2If.19508$wl.15629@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
MS <No.Way.Jose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A Sunday pub lunch disagreement needs resolving. A friend stated that 'I
speak good English' is actally not good English at all and that 'I speak
English well' is the correct way of saying it. Is she correct and, if so, why?

To me, there is a slight difference of meaning between the two.

In "I speak good English", "good" is an adjective denoting the quality of the
English being spoken.

In "I speak English well", "well" is an adverb denoting the skill of the
speaker at speaking English.

Ok, it's a subtle distinction. :-)

A subtle but important distinction and an argument winner. The pub
disagreement proceeded on the basis that they were two phrases to
communicate one idea, which they are not. Many thanks for pointing out the
difference between the two.

But despite the grammatical difference and the theoretical
difference in the thought expressed, the two statements are
really conveying the same idea. The speaker is boasting of
his or her ability to speak English as shown by the high
quality of his or her speech.

To a grammarian, the difference is significant; for the
ordinary English user, there is no important difference.
.

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