Grammar girl here, today's topic is well versus good.

It's such a simple little question, how are you?

But I've heard from people who feel a twinge of trepidation or even fallblown frustration

every time they have to decide whether to say they're good or they're well.

I'm good is what you're likely to hear in general conversation, but there are grammar

nitpickers out there who will try to do if you say it.

The wonderful news is that those nitpickers are wrong.

It's perfectly acceptable to say I'm good, and you shouldn't have to shamefully submit

to teasing remarks such as the time honored and leering how good are you.

The nitpickers will tell you that well isn't adverb, and therefore modifies verbs, and

that good isn't adjective, and therefore modifies nouns.

But the situation just isn't that simple.

The key is to understand how linking verbs differ from action verbs.

Trust me, this is worth it, so you can look people in the eye and say,

I'm good with absolute confidence.

First, let's talk about action verbs.

They're easy, they describe actions.

Verbs such as run, jump, and swim are all action verbs.

If you want to describe an action verb, you use an adverb like well.

You could say, he runs well, she jumps well, they swim well.

Well is an adverb that relates to all those action verbs.

Linking verbs, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated.

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