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I don't actually know whether polecats (skunks) smell well, though I imagine they do, since they forage at night. They are certainly known for not smelling good, even at a considerable distance! I don't think there's much value in being a stickler about "well" and "good" in response to "How are you?" where no-one really could mistake the intent, but where the confusion is possible, it seems worth maintaining the distinction.
It seems clear enough that by 'distinction' you mean that between the olfactory sensitivity (well), and the odor (good).
But can there be room for 'well' to be for odor, and still be distinct from 'good' ?
Suppose you have aficionados of pressed flowers. The superficial observer might say that the dried thing still smells good, but the aficionado might sniff up and down just too decide if the thing actually smells well.
I don't think so. Well is an adverb, so it can't modify a noun, odor. You can have a good odor but not a well odor.
But smell is both a verb and a noun, and that's the word that was used.
I think it's odd that the verb smell means both to detect an odor and to emit an odor, but it provides enough humor to persist.
EmmettRedd said
I noticed today there is a 4-word sentence which both good and well are grammatically correct:I have been good. I have been well.
I realize good is a predicate adjective. But, is well an adverb here; is the sentence idiomatic; or is there another explanation?
I believe well is also a predicate adjective, they just mean two different things. Good describes how you're acting and well describes your health. I have heard that good is beginning to be acceptable for describing health in the sentence, "I am good" but I must resist that movement. You may say, "I feel good" or "I feel well" and they can be interchangeable but "I am good", meaning health, is out for me.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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