Need FReeper Help With English Grammar

MB26

[MindBender26]

Need help from a real English language maven:

Sentence in question is: "Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go half bad"

Is that correct, or is it "Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go half badly"?

Yeah, I know it's a lousy sentence in the first place, but I didn't write it.

Need someone who really knows English grammar for expert opinion.

Thanks

[Sir Gawain]

Breaking news?

[r9etb]

I think that "half bad" is correct, as it's a colloquialism.

[LN2Campy]

Since it's an adverb (modifying the verb "to go"), half badly should be used. It is an atrocious sentence, however.

[borisbob69]

My opinion...for what it's worth:

Choice 2 seems the better of the two given. Badly is an adverb and modifies the verb go.

[Neets]

"Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go half bad"

[The Old Hoosier]

"Half bad" is the correct expression, but it's slang. "Half badly" is gramatically better, but you'd never use it, because the sentence is designed to go with the expression "half bad," and you'd never use a sentence like that if you were interested in proper grammar.

Are you sure you want to use that sentence at all?

[BibChr]

My initial thought: it depends.

If "bad" modifies the verb "go," it should be an adverb ("badly").

However, if it is a hyphenated expression "half-bad," and "go" is taken in the sense "turn out to be" or "become," it could work. As in the expression, "You know, I think the cheese has gone bad"; or, "We tried to raise him well, but that moose just went bad."

Dan

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Having a badly day? Or having a day badly?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I think #1

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I think it would be "All you badly court days are belong to us".

[afraidfortherepublic]

"Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go half badly"?

I think that is the more correct form. However, I would change it to say: "Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go as poorly as expected" or "Larry Parks' day in court Monday didn't go as poorly as might have been expected."

[AppyPappy]

Slang don't need to follow grammEr rules....at

[SmartBlonde]

Remove the 'half'. What's left: Larry Parks' day didn't go badly.

[homeschool mama]

I vote for this one. ;o)

[null and void]

Can't help you. All I know is "Never use a preposition to end a sentence with."

[lodwick]

Monday, Larry Parks' day in court sucked. ;-)

[bwteim]

guess it depends on whether you are describing the day (as a noun) or how it went (as a verb):

http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000198.htm

[babble-on]

This no doubt is an example of the diversity of opinion which attracts all of us to freerepublic. The correct answer is that you have to say "half-bad" even though it technically should be an adverb there, because no one who uses expressions like "half-bad" is supposed to know about adverbs. It destroys the power of the homespun colloquialism to change the ending for grammatical aptness. I know this is art not science, but that's the way I see it.