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Paris Scene 2 Language Focus

Rob gives us some good advice for speaking well, and then he and Ashlie talk about good and well.

Task 1

Exercise

Task 2

Remember, after verbs like 'look', 'feel', 'sound', 'smell' and 'taste', we use adjectives not adverbs:
     Anna looks good in that new dress.
     (= She has a good appearance.)

'well' is usually an adverb but sometimes it's an adjective which means 'healthy':
     The cat doesn’t look well.
     (= It doesn’t look healthy, it looks ill.)

Exercise

Task 3

Exercise

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Language level

Intermediate: B1
Upper intermediate: B2

Comments

niloofar 64's picture niloofar 64 replied on Iran

Hello English Team
I would like to know is there a difference between the meaning of these two sentences?" you speak good English. " and " you speak English well."
thank you

Peter M.'s picture Peter M. replied on Poland

Hello niloofar 64,

Both sentences are correct and can be used interchangeably. 'Good' is an adjective and describes the noun 'English', which 'well' is an adverb and describes the verb 'speak'.


Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

niloofar 64's picture niloofar 64 replied on Iran

thanks for your help.

musashow17's picture musashow17 replied on Turkey

Hello English Team
Could you explain me that using thinking words which our language such as 'eee' 'mmm' in speaking English is bad idea?
For example :

A: How many different countries have you visited?
B: Well ... Thirteen? Fourteen? Definitely more than ten.

Is it problem to use 'ee' or 'hmm' etc. instead of 'Well'
In my language 'hmm' and 'hmm' are used to in same way with 'well'

Peter M.'s picture Peter M. replied on Poland

Hello musashow17,

It's hard for me to comment on this as I would need to hear the actual speech in order to judge if the interjections are confusing, irritating, too frequent and so on, but in general there is nothing wrong with using sound such as these. Many native speakers use sounds like 'mmm' when they need to hesitate but want to signal that they have not finished speaking.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

musashow17's picture musashow17 replied on Turkey

I got it thank your for your comment
Best Regards

Hira Afzal's picture Hira Afzal replied on Pakistan

why don't we use <.it smells really well,> here instead of good..What are you cooking? It smells really good.

Kirk's picture Kirk replied on Spain

Hello Hira Afzal,

'smell' is a link verb. Many link verbs, including 'smell', are followed by an adjective rather than an adverb. It's as if 'smell' were the verb 'be' in a sense. The page I linked to explains this in more detail.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

STEPHANE ROTH's picture STEPHANE ROTH replied on France

Why don't we say "you speak a very good english" instead of "you speak very good english" ?
Thanks

Peter M.'s picture Peter M. replied on Poland

Hello STEPHANE ROTH,

The names of languages are usually uncountable. Hence we say 'I don't speak much (not many) Chinese' and 'They don't speak any English (not Englishes)'.

 

Best wishes,

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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