“If I hit a bad shot, people five fairways away know it because I’m yelling [his favorite curse word], but if I hit a good shot, I’m yelling too. Everybody knows the difference in the yelling. Either Sam is playing well, or he’s playing bad.” - Samuel L. Jackson, in People, about his behavior on the golf course
Samuel has made an error in modifier confusion: he has used an adjective to modify a verb. Only an adverb can modify a verb.
In the last sentence, the second instance of the verb “playing” is modified by the adjective “bad.” This is incorrect because an adjective cannot modify a verb. To correct the error, replace the adjective with an adverb.
“Either Sam is playing well, or he’s playing badly.”
“Either Sam is playing well, or he’s playing poorly.”
2 Comments
Isn’t “bad” acceptably used as an adverb in informal speech/writing? Phrases like “bad enough” (e.g., “The grammar guru wanted it bad enough that s/he could taste it.”) or “real bad” (e.g., “I wanted to point out his error real bad.”) are fairly common. If that is a quote from him speaking at any informal occasion, I wouldn’t think twice about it. If it is written, on the other hand, that’s a different story.
Ian,
In your example, “I wanted to point out his error real bad.” there are two errors. It should read “really badly”.
Real and bad are adjectives. No matter how often you hear these words misused informally it is still incorrect usage, and sounds offensive (uneducated) to anyone knowing better.
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