Is the below sentence correct?
"Today is gone good"
people are saying that we have to use either "gone for good" or "gone well".
Please clarify the doubt with good explanation :)
asked Jul 11, 2016 at 13:48
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1Google Books the below sentence is:2 hits, the sentence below is:2030 hits. I realise this is a bit of a hassle for learners, since the above sentence is is almost four times more common than the sentence above is, but if you want to avoid using "marked" forms you just have to get used to this one. So I'll edit the question text.– FumbleFingersJul 11, 2016 at 14:09
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Fair enough. It's your post, so if you want to revert my edit that's your prerogative. (In the circumstances though, I trust the mods won't delete my above comment! :)– FumbleFingersJul 11, 2016 at 14:22
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I assume you're taking an "Indian English" perspective on this usage point. Even without the clue from your username, I'd interpret your phrasing as evidence that you're probably Indian - not necessarily a "non-native Anglophone, since there are at least some native Anglophones in India.– FumbleFingersJul 11, 2016 at 14:33
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But I would say that the trend is towards putting the adjective after the noun, so I doubt your version will prevail in the long run.– FumbleFingersJul 11, 2016 at 14:34
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1 Answer
No, the sentence is not correct. Possible correct sentences are
Today is gone for good
or
Today has gone well
or possibly
Today is going well
but they mean completely different things.
The first one ("Today is gone for good") is in the simple present, and says something about the current state of today; specifically, that it is gone for good. "For good" is an idiom that means "permanently" or "forever". So the sentence is saying that today is gone forever.
The second one ("Today has gone well") is in the present perfect and says that today, up until this time, has progressed in a satisfactory way.
The third one ("Today is going well") is in the present progressive and means that this day, right now, is currently progressed in a satisfactory way.
If you want to talk about the satisfactoriness of the day with the verb to go, you have to use well and not good, because well is an adverb that modifies the verb to go, and good is an adjective.
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Thank you very much for your answer.Why shouldn't we use "gone good"? Jul 11, 2016 at 14:15
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@Krishna: You shouldn't say Today has gone good for the same reason you should avoid The boy done good. These usages do occur, but they're generally considered substandard/uneducated. Jul 11, 2016 at 14:26
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Nevertheless, many native speakers use good as an adverb and would say Today has gone good, just like even more native speakers say I'm doing good, with good as an adverb describing doing, not as an adjective describing I. This is for the OP's knowledge. Although I also would encourage learners to use sentence below. Jul 11, 2016 at 15:57