The King’s English
It probably comes to us from the Old West, the drawling cow-puncher, sidling up to the innocent maiden: “Ma’am, you look real pretty tonight.” Somehow a syllable, “ly”, fell by the wayside and seems irretrievably gone! One more bit of syntax erosion.
To be technical, “real” is an adjective and can only modify a noun or pronoun. Here it modifies “pretty”, also an adjective which should be modified only by an adverb, such as really, or perhaps even better, very.
Whatever, the misuse of real has become all but universal, as in “I feel real well.” Real means genuine, as opposed to artificial: “That is a real tomato.” (Not ceramic)
An easy test if you are debating whether to use real or really, is to substitute the word very; if it fits, you should use “really.” Using our examples from above: “Ma’am, you look very pretty” (or really); but “that is a very tomato” is obviously in error and real is therefore proper.v Next time you see John Wayne in a 1942 oater swagger up to the wide-eyed heroine with a “you look real nice honey,” you have our permission to throw a (real) rock through the screen!
To be technical, “real” is an adjective and can only modify a noun or pronoun. Here it modifies “pretty”, also an adjective which should be modified only by an adverb, such as really, or perhaps even better, very.
Whatever, the misuse of real has become all but universal, as in “I feel real well.” Real means genuine, as opposed to artificial: “That is a real tomato.” (Not ceramic)
An easy test if you are debating whether to use real or really, is to substitute the word very; if it fits, you should use “really.” Using our examples from above: “Ma’am, you look very pretty” (or really); but “that is a very tomato” is obviously in error and real is therefore proper.v Next time you see John Wayne in a 1942 oater swagger up to the wide-eyed heroine with a “you look real nice honey,” you have our permission to throw a (real) rock through the screen!
– Ken Butera