Good vs. Well

 The words good and well have been in English since its earliest incarnation.

When Beowulf finds the ancient sword in the underwater cave of Grendel’s mother, one of the words used to describe it is good.

Likewise, when the Beowulf poet contemplates the afterlife, he says, “Well [i.e., “in a state of good fortune”] is the person who after death seeks the Lord.”

Entries for both words in the Oxford English Dictionary are extremely long, encompassing numerous shades of meaning, many of them now obsolete.

Both words can function adverbially, but the use of good as an outright adverb declined in British English in the seventeenth century. It resurfaced in the nineteenth century as an Americanism, as noted in Bartlett’s American Dictionary (1859):

English travellers have repeatedly noticed the adverbial use of this word [good]. ‘He cannot read good.’ ‘It does not shoot good.’

Careful twenty-first century speakers and writers—Americans included—take care to avoid using good as an adverb in formal speech and writing, but colloquially (and in writing about sports), good is frequently used in place of well to modify a verb:

Nonstandard: We did pretty good sticking to our dinner plan this week except for one evening. (charlotteobserver.com)
Preferred: We did pretty well sticking to our dinner plan this week except for one evening.

Nonstandard: It doesn’t matter how good you played or how bad you played, did you win or not? (dailyherald.com)
Preferred: It doesn’t matter how well you played or how badly you played, did you win or not?

Nonstandard: He played good the first half of the bowl game, but he didn’t in the second half. (tennesean.com)
Preferred: He played well the first half of the bowl game, but he didn’t in the second half.

Nonstandard: Craig Anderson played great in net and the defense played good all the way out. (newsobserver.com)
Preferred: Craig Anderson played extremely well in net and the defense played well all the way out.

Apart from the clear situation in which well is preferable to good when modifying a finite verb, idiomatic uses exist in which good can be used adverbially without incurring disdain.

Idioms with good that function adverbially:

as good as
He as good as admitted that he was lying.
(“virtually, practically, in effect”)

good and
The principal was good and mad.
(“very, entirely”)

good-paying
Some speakers, knowing that we mustn’t say that a job “pays good,” go out of their way to change the acceptable idiom “good-paying” to the odd-sounding “well-paying.”

Note this sentence from a site called “geteducated”:

With only a minimal amount of classes and no previous experience, you can land this well-paying job.

Seems to me the sentence would sound more “educated” this way:

With only a minimal number of classes and no previous experience, you can land this good-paying job.

a good many
We’ve been glorifying wealth as the road to happiness for a good many years now.

Merriam-Webster defines “a good many” as “a lot,” but in the phrase, good modifies the adjective many—ergo, it’s being used adverbially.


sumber

Loose or Lose?

There's no formula for what I do," said King, who added that if he tried to analyze and formulate his approach to writing, he might loose his touch.

The word "loose" in this quotation from a site about publishing is incorrectly used. King might lose his touch.

The words lose and loose are often confused. Here are examples to illustrate their uses.

"Lose" is a verb.

The Cubs didn't lose today's game.
They lost the one yesterday.
They have lost three in a row.
I don't like it when they are losing.

The word "loose" can be used as more than one part of speech.

"Loose" can be a verb:

Loose the dog from its chain.
The man loosed his pit bull on the intruder.
We have loosed all the raccoons from the traps.
The activists are loosing the monkeys from the lab.

"Loose" can be an adjective:

He prefers to wear loose clothing when exercising.
This screw is loose.

"Loose" can be an adverb:

The rancher turned the horses loose.

One more thing: The two words have different pronunciations. The "s" in "lose" has the sound /z/. The "s" in "loose" has the sound /s/.


sumber


A common writing error is the use of loose in a context that calls for the verb lose.

As a verb, loose means, “to set free; to release from restraint.” For example, “The Kaffirs loosed the dogs before seeing the elephants.” 

Lose, on the other hand, means “to become deprived of,” “to miss from one’s possession.” For example, “They lose their keys at least once every day.”

I’m never surprised to find the loose/lose error in such contexts as fan fiction, social media, or readers’ comments on news sites. I am, however, disappointed when I find it in texts written by journalists, medical professionals, and others who boast university credentials or professional expertise.

Most of the errors I found online occurred with the idioms “to lose one’s way” and “to lose sight of, but it also appears in free constructions:

INCORRECT: Everyone would like to be happy. Sometimes we loose our way or forget how happiness feels.—Therapist advertising in Psychology Today directory, graduate of Rutgers University.
CORRECT : Everyone would like to be happy. Sometimes we lose our way or forget how happiness feels.

INCORRECT: And if we do loose our way, it is easy to ask ourselves, “Where are we going, what is our purpose?”—Graduate student essay, University of Michigan.
CORRECT : And if we do lose our way, it is easy to ask ourselves, “Where are we going, what is our purpose?”

INCORRECT: When this happened [blockage of blood vessels] the neutrophils seemed to loose their way.—Science Daily, report on study done at University of London.
CORRECT : When this happened [blockage of blood vessels] the neutrophils seemed to lose their way.

INCORRECT: Take responsibility for your learning, don’t loose sight of what you want to learn, resolve or get out of therapy, and don’t talk about material you know is irrelevant.—Clinical psychologist offering his services.
CORRECT : Take responsibility for your learning, don’t lose sight of what you want to learn, resolve or get out of therapy, and don’t talk about material you know is irrelevant.

INCORRECT: It’s easy to get caught up in project details and loose sight of the bigger picture.—Vanderbilt University.
CORRECT : It’s easy to get caught up in project details and lose sight of the bigger picture.

INCORRECT: When you loose your concentration, start the exercise again from the beginning.—Meditation Workshop.
CORRECT : When you lose your concentration, start the exercise again from the beginning.

INCORRECT: He said the audit showed Lincoln’s basic business had been loosing money for two years…—The Washington Post.
CORRECT :  He said the audit showed Lincoln’s basic business had been losing money for two years