In the last chapter we glanced at several salient differences between the common coin of English and the common coin of American--that is, the verbs and adjectives in constant colloquial use--the rubber-stamps, so to speak, of the two languages. America has two adverbs that belong to the same category. They are /right/ and /good/. Neither holds the same place in English. Thornton shows that the use of /right/, as in /right away/, /right good/ and /right now/, was already widespread in the United States early in the last century; his first example is dated 1818. He believes that the locution was "possibly imported from the southwest of Ireland." Whatever its origin, it quickly attracted the attention of English visitors. Dickens noted /right away/ as an almost universal Americanism during his first American tour, in 1842, and poked fun at it in the second chapter of "American Notes." /Right/ is used as a synonym for /directly/, as in /right away/, /right off/, /right now/ and /right on time/; for /moderately/, as in /right well/, /right smart/, /right good/ and /right often/, and in place of /precisely/, as in /right there/. Some time ago, in an article on Americanisms, an English critic called it "that most distinctively American word," and concocted the following dialogue to instruct the English in its use:
Go /right/ along, and take the first turning (/sic/) on the /right/, and you are /right/ there.
Like W. L. George, this Englishman failed in his attempt to write correct American despite his fine pedagogical passion. No American would ever say "take the first turning"; he would say "turn at the first corner." As for /right away/, R. O. Williams argues that "so far as analogy can make good English, it is as good as one could choose."[44] Nevertheless, the Oxford Dictionary admits it only as an Americanism, and avoids all mention of the other American uses of /right/ as an adverb. /Good/ is almost as protean. It is not only used as a general synonym for all adjectives and adverbs connoting satisfaction, as in /to feel good/, /to be treated good/, /to sleep good/, but also as a reinforcement to other adjectives and adverbs, as in "I hit him /good/ and hard" and "I am /good/ and tired." Of late /some/ has come into wide use as an adjective-adverb of all work, indicating special excellence or high degree, as in /some girl/, /some sick/, /going some/, etc. It is still below the salt, but threatens to reach a more respectable position. One encounters it in the newspapers constantly and in the /Congressional Record/, and not long ago a writer in the /Atlantic Monthly/[45] hymned it ecstatically as "/some/ word--a true super-word, in fact" and argued that it could be used "in a sense for which there is absolutely no synonym in the dictionary." Basically, it appears to be an adjective, but in many of its common situations the grammarians would probably call it an adverb. It gives no little support to the growing tendency, already noticed, to break down the barrier between the two parts of speech.