people seem to forget is that it's standard to use adjectives—such as good—after linking verbs (5, 6). When you do it, they are called predicate adjectives, and they refer back to the noun before the linking verb. That's why, even though good is primarily an adjective, it is OK to say, "I am good": am is a linking verb, and you use adjectives after linking verbs.

Aside from the linking-verb-action-verb trickiness, another reason people get confused about this topic is that well can be both an adverb and a predicate adjective. As I said earlier, in the sentence He swam well, well is an adverb that describes how he swam. But when you say, “I am well,” you're using well as a predicate adjective. That's fine, but most sources say well is reserved to mean “healthy” when it's used in this way (1, 3, 4). So if you are recovering from a long illness and someone is inquiring about your health, it's appropriate to say, “I am well,” but if you're just describing yourself on a generally good day and nobody's asking specifically about your health, a more appropriate response is, “I am good.”

Finally, it's very important to remember that it's wrong to use good as an adverb after an action verb. For example, it's wrong to say, “He swam good.” Cringe! The proper sentence is He swam well, because swam is an action verb and it needs an adverb to describe it. Remember, you can only use adjectives such as good and bad after linking verbs, you can't use them after action verbs.

 

quoted from Grammer Girl and also paraphrased from my High School English Teacher

This argument reminds me how far political correctness has gone....you never ever heard the word "well" until the last few years unless describing your helath. Meanwhile, every moron in the country worries about being correct....why not dwell on real issues like keeping our liberties and freedom as our government and many of its citzens grow more  oppressive and controlling by the day, ....divide and conquor the masses through trivialities, keep them business with nonsense and regulations and rules....this wins the day for those who will deprive you of your God-given liberties including the right of free speech, gramatically cortrect or not....

 

Goodby America..you once stood for something, now it is over..

It is perfectly fine to say, "I am good," because "I" and "good" are linked by the linking verb "am."  You would not say "I am DOING good" to describe how you feel because "am doing" is a transitive verb, requiring a direct object.  In this case the D.O. would be "good," implying that you are doing some type of community service or something.  You would have to say, "I am doing well," if you want to describe how you feel.  In this sense, doesn't modify "I."  Rather, it is modifying "am doing" because it ("well") tells HOW you ARE DOING.  Because "am doing" is a verb, it must be modified by an adverb, which would be "well."

I had this argument a couple days ago and searched online for answers.  Clive gave a good reason.  Thanks!

E. Holt, Jr.

Memphis, TN