debate on "you did good"

[Dennis R. Preston]

This is close to an interpretation which would parse "You did X" as

You did (something which was) X.

which I like. X would have to be an adj in this interpretation.

Just like

You ate something bad.

Not the criticism of your eating skills in

You ate something badly.

dInIs

>My (innocent) assumption was that "you did..." was just some frozen phrase
>and had nothing to do with the "good" vs. "well" problem.  That's why we also
>have:
>
>you did big
>you did bad
>you did wrong
>you did stupid (although I've only heard this one twice and I found it
>strange both times)
>
>-dsb
>Douglas S. Bigham
>Southern Illinois University - Carbondale

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736