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Márcio Osório

Which one of the following sentences your native English ears and mouth would most naturally anticipate or say in conversation?

a) "X speaks English well"
b) "X speaks good English"

BTW, the first time my niece's Massachusettian husband came here (in July 2004), he told her: "Oh, he [Márcio] speaks good English!" when he heard me babble a few words in it!

Now, where does the difference between the sentences "... husband came here..." and "... husband came around here..." lie? Does leaving out the "around" part make a difference no matter how many places my niece's husband actually visited us in? He only traversed two nearby towns on regular visits.

Tongue back in normal place. Thank you.
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"Sem mais para o momento, cem mais param o momento." --Hoje, 30/10/2006.
"Having nothing else to say at the moment, one hundred stop it." --Well, how does it read to you?

adrianerik · Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 21

Márcio Osório · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 3:43 pm Post subject:

adrianerik, your certainly invaluable input deserves a lot of thanks.
_________________
"Sem mais para o momento, cem mais param o momento." --Hoje, 30/10/2006.
"Having nothing else to say at the moment, one hundred stop it." --Well, how does it read to you?

fillemelodique · Joined: 18 Dec 2004 Posts: 591

I would say "He speaks English well"....I wouldn't ever say "He speaks good English"...well, unless I've spent too much time talking to the boy and started talking like how he does when he speaks English.

I do hear people say it routinely. It's like nails on a chalkboard. However, from an ESL speaker, it's forgivable.
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AkuTyger · Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:48 pm Post subject:

Adrienerik had it with the idea that "well" is about ability and "good" is in referece to a noun - adverb versus adjective. We all know which one goes where.

"Come around" makes me think of a song by Tom Petty. There is an element of distance in it's use, as well as an element of time. I have most often heard it when people are talking about how it happened long ago in a land far far away.... but it doesn't happen anymore that you "come around."

Sorry, I can't get too much more in depth than that right now, this heat is killing all my brain cells and the misquitos are sucking the blood from what's still living.
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Happy Cat goes Miau!!!

rosanji · Joined: 22 Dec 2004 Posts: 32

I would say "X speaks good english"these questions make me wonder if my english sucks because all the native speakers always choose a different answer than mine
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Márcio Osório · Posted: Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:16 pm Post subject:

Thank you all. Facts as invaluable and crystal-clear such as you deigned to present didn't take a lot of coming around to.

Oh boy, it seems that the more English I write, the more obscure it gets. Do you think my last statement above (... a lot of coming around to) makes any sense whatsoever? I thought I might use "come around" in a different way.

Thank you again.
_________________
"Sem mais para o momento, cem mais param o momento." --Hoje, 30/10/2006.
"Having nothing else to say at the moment, one hundred stop it." --Well, how does it read to you?

AkuTyger · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 1:42 pm Post subject:

AHHHHH! That was very reminicent of what some of my students write! You're scaring me!
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Happy Cat goes Miau!!!

Márcio Osório · Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2005 4:05 pm Post subject:

oman · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 201

Marcio,
Just to add some confusion to the above:
I would actually say "He speaks/writes good English" if what I want to express is that someone uses _proper_ english (vs. Moe from 'bama who frex uses "Howdy! It ain't!! n' that don't matter!!")...

AkuTyger · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 11:32 am Post subject:

Good English would consitute an ebonics type dialect.
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Happy Cat goes Miau!!!

Puro Híbrido · Joined: 28 Dec 2004 Posts: 482

Can't we interpret the adjective "good" as referring to the noun "English"?
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Un peu plus à l'ouest...

oman · Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 201

That's my take on the subject as well...
Good is used an an adj. here.
You would along the same line say: "This band plays good music, or they play good music in this club"... to describe content vs. musicians abilities.
Né?

bornsleepy · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 12:35 pm Post subject:

I think, for a language, it could only be said with quantifiers in that way - "X speaks some/ a little / English", but certainly - "X speaks English well" -for the ability, and all that,of course, if we talk about standard English.
Puro, if I may suggest, an adjective good can reffer to "English" if you mean English(man, woman...), but not for language.And of course, that's only my humble opinion. Very Happy

AkuTyger · Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:12 pm Post subject:

Well, if you want to talk about good or bad English, I guess you could go that way. But I have a hard time figuring out what constitutes as bad or good English. Based only on opinion.... I can see the point, however it does not stray my first impression that you are using an adjective in place of an adverb when I first read or hear it.
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Happy Cat goes Miau!!!