Quote:
Originally Posted by sjfan
But it isn't. Descriptively, if you were modifying the verb then you'd be saying that you were numb or something similar: “I can't tell if the coin has ridges on the edges because I'm feeling badly—the Novocaine hasn't worn off.”
When people say they “feel bad”, “bad” is a linked state of being, not modifying feel. It’s exactly the same sort of construction as “I feel sick” or “I am sad”: "sad" isn't modifying "am", it’s just the specified state.
Compare:
I feel carefully around the edges of the glass, so as not to cut myself. “carefully” modifies the way in which I feel.
Do you feel reckless or careful today? I feel careful. Careful is my state of being.
http://grammartips.homestead.com/badly.html |
That's how I have seen it justified before, as if "bad" in "feel bad" were not an adverb. In reality, there are good arguments for that it is.
Briefly, there is form on one side and function on the other. Any given word may be (at least) two things in the same sentence depending whether you are describing its form or its function. Occasionally, forms are spelled the same and then you realize you have to go by function to explain the word properly.
By function, "bad" in "feel bad" is an adverb, even though it looks like the adjective "bad". Knowing how to figure out how words function syntactically, as distinguished from mere spelling, is a good skill to have.