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Is the goofy an adjective here?

09:33 AM Sep 17 2008 | Reply

Jeremy Chen

Taiwan

We were acting pretty goofy last night after drinking all that beer.
Ebaby says goofy is an adjective, but can goofy modify "were acting"?

Can someone help me with this grammar question?

01:02 PM Sep 18 2008 | Reply

Stitch

StitchSuper Member!

United States

I think goofy is an adjective. Correctly speaking, the sentence should be:  We were acting pretty goofily last night after drinking all that beer.

However, it is very common to hear Americans say " Acting goofy." I think you shouldn't write that in a formal paper, but it's acceptable to speak like that…

01:46 PM Sep 18 2008 | Reply

Mystery

Mystery

Christmas Island

I see it as an adverb since it modifies acting, which is a verb. Besides, if the correct word (such as it is) is goofily, then it is an adverb. Goofy isn't really a word anyway but in this case it is an adverb for sure. 

Where on Ebaby is this mistake? If it is in the lessons, then it confirms my suspicion that the lessons are full of mistakes. I wonder if anyone even checks them for accuracy? 

Words like this are ok to use in conversation but never in an essay or serious work. If you are writing fictional conversation, then words such as this are fine.