We all know someone who, upon hearing someone else say “I feel bad,” says, “You mean you feel badly.” Usually, this correction is accompanied by a smug expression and a haughty tone, which just makes me so angry I could kick someone in the shins (but I don’t, because that’s rude and writers shouldn’t be rude).
People who say, “I feel badly,” don’t bother me. It’s a common error. They’ve likely been told by a smug so-and-so that their grammar is moronic and they have been made to feel that they have the IQ of a paper clip for saying “I feel bad,” (Paper clips have an IQ of approximately 5, so it’s not good to have the IQ of a paper clip in case you thought it was a compliment.)
It’s those who make others feel stupid for saying “I feel bad,” that bother me. I know I just said it’s a common error, but it’s one of those errors that some people think separates them from the dimwits of the world. It makes some people feel superior when, really, their disdainful correction only highlights their ignorance (you know who you are).
The truth is–brace yourselves for it–the correct form when a person is describing her emotional state is “I feel bad.”
I know that thousands of you are shocked by this (or at least three of you, since I don’t yet have a readership in the thousands), but it’s true. When you describe your emotional state, “bad” is the way to go. To those of you whose world is destroyed by this information, who just don’t know how you will carry on with your day-to-day life, I am sad but I’m not sadly (see what I did there?).
Allow me to explain this, before you bombard me with literally one e-mail protesting this proclamation.
“Feel” can actually be two types of verb. It can be an active verb, as in I feel my cat’s fur. “Feel” can also be a linking verb, which describes an emotional state or a state of being. Other linking verbs include forms of “to be” such as “am,” “was,” “are,” “is” and so on. Some verbs, including “feel,” and “smell” can be either active verbs or linking verbs, depending on their context.
If you use “feel” as an active verb, then “badly” is perfectly fine because the active verb requires an adverb as a descriptive. Basically, you’re describing the act of feeling an object in a bad manner (it’s kind of weird but it’s allowed). But, if you’re describing your emotional state, you’re using a linking verb which requires an adjective, so you feel bad.
How do you know which to use? Attempt to replace your verb with some form of “to be.” If you can, then you’re using a linking verb and bad (or stupid, strong or any other descriptive term is correct). If you can’t, then you’re using an active verb and badly (or stupidly or strongly) is correct.
Need more help? Let’s say someone asks you to name the capital of Canada and you get it wrong (it’s Ottawa, by the way). Do you say, “I feel stupid,” or “I feel stupidly?” (Don’t feel too stupid, though, there are many out there who don’t know it and some of them are Canadian.) Or, say someone cuts you off in traffic, almost causing a car accident. Do you say, “I feel mad” or “I feel madly” as you honk your horn at him?
If you wouldn’t use stupidly or madly, don’t use badly.
So, the next time someone condescendingly tells you that you feel badly, tell him that you most definitely feel bad but he’ll feel worsely (see how I did it again?) after you punch him in the stomach (but don’t punch him, because that would be rude and as I explained above, a writer shouldn’t be rude).
