A WORD, PLEASE:

A reader of an ABC News website story is irked about the word “well.” The story, titled “Sick Kids: Keep Them Home? Or Are They Faking?” prompted the following comment on the website.

“And why don’t schools teach them that the proper grammar is to say they don’t ‘feel well’ anymore?”

This comment, in turn, elicited the response: “Kids (and adults) have been saying ‘I don’t feel good’ for the past 30+ years so it’s not a new thing.”

And I can just hear the response that last comment might elicit: “So? Just because people have been using it wrong doesn’t make it right.”

Or does it?

We’ll come back to that. First, let’s look at the word itself. “Well” trips a lot of people up. They think that “well” is an adverb, and that in “I don’t feel well” it’s modifying the verb “feel.” What these people probably don’t realize is that “well” is not one word. It’s several different words — and several different parts of speech. Understanding the nature of “well” will help us understand which of our two ABC News readers is right, or at least more right.

“Well,” of course, can be a noun meaning a hole in the ground where you get water.

“Well” is also a verb. Think: “Tears welled up in my eyes.”

“Well” is also an interjection: “Well, well, well. What have we here?”

But there are two other homonyms of “well” that we’re most interested in today. Perhaps best known, “well” is an adverb — most easily described as the adverb form of “good.” You’re good at math. So you do well at math. You’re a good speller. So you spell well.

But that’s not the word we’re using when we say “I feel well.” The lesser-known fact is that “well” is also an adjective. Its first definition, according to American Heritage, is “in good health.”

That’s where the confusion comes in. People think that the “well” in “I feel well” is an adverb. And you could make that case. But in this construction it’s more likely that “well” is meant as an adjective.

You feel well. You look well. You are well. To see how that’s an adjective, plug in another adjective. You feel happy. You look happy. You are happy. Now plug in an adverb to compare: You feel happily. You look happily. You are happily. Clearly, these constructions do not call for adverbs.

So chances are, when you say “I feel well” you’re using the adjective form — even if you don’t realize it. But compare that to a similar expression and you’ll see why so many people become confused: “I’m doing well.”

Though it may convey a meaning identical to “I am well” or “I feel well,” the “well” in “I’m doing well” is a completely different word. Here it really is describing the action. So, unlike “I am well,” which uses an adjective, “I’m doing well” uses an adverb.

That brings us back to our original question: Which of our commenters is right? The one who thinks kids should say “I don’t feel well” or the one who thinks it’s OK to say “I don’t feel good”?

They both are.

Here’s the rub. If you look up “good” in some dictionaries, including “Webster’s New World College Dictionary,” you’ll find the definition “healthy, strong, vigorous.” In this definition, “good” is basically a synonym for “well.”

Add to that the fact that usage renders “I don’t feel good” a common idiom, and it’s clear that, yes, your kid can get away with saying “I don’t feel good.” But, yes, it would be nice if she also understood the word “well.”

?JUNE CASAGRANDE is a freelance writer and author of “Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies” and “Mortal Syntax: 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs — Even If You’re Right.” She may be reached at JuneTCN@aol.com.