Learn English – Which is correct: “drive safe” or “drive safely”

adverbsgrammaticalityphrasesspeech

When someone is going to drive their car somewhere, I always used to say "drive safely" to them. Recently I was told I should say "drive safe."

(From: Would you ask someone to drive safe or to drive safely?)

Which one is correct? Similarly, is "do good" correct?

Best Answer

"Drive safely" is the formally correct phrase.

Saying "drive safe" sounds casual and informal; however, many people do it. This is because, in general, people sometimes use the adjective form as an adverb (usually this means not adding -ly) in casual speech. It is not recommended in any formal situations.

"Do good" is a different kind of issue, because the form depends on the meaning you want to convey.

  • If "do good" means "do the right/good thing", then "do good" is the formally correct phrase.

  • If "do good" means "perform correctly/at a high level", then "do well" is the formally correct phrase. (But, as mentioned above, casually you could also say "do good" here.)