Wimpy kid novel question.
Hello, folks.

I'm working on the wimpy kid series with audio file.
and please check out " I don't do too good" and "I don't get too good" below sentences.
although the book said "do too good", when I heard the sound, it said "get".
It was really obvious.
here's my question, is there any expression or sound natural
if I say "I'm going to get good"?
Please, help me out.
Thank you.

In fact, the other kids in my class had better look out,
because if I keep this up, I could be a real threat.
Then again, I better make sure I don’t get too good.

In fact, the other kids in my class had better look out,
because if I keep this up, I could be a real threat.
Then again, I better make sure I don’t get too good.

Question

Wimpy kid novel question.
Hello, folks.

I'm working on the wimpy kid series with audio file. 
and please check out " I don't do too good" and "I don't get too good" below sentences.
although the book said "do too good", when I heard the sound, it said "get".
It was really obvious.
here's my question, is there any expression or sound natural
if I say "I'm going to get good"?
Please, help me out.
Thank you.

In fact, the other kids in my class had better look out, 
because if I keep this up, I could be a real threat.
Then again, I better make sure I don’t get too good.

In fact, the other kids in my class had better look out, 
because if I keep this up, I could be a real threat. 
Then again, I better make sure I don’t get too good.

Answer

I'm not familiar with this particular series; but I think that "do/get too good" in this context is a shortening of "do/get too good at this," with the "at this" understood.

"Do good" and "get good" mean the same thing in this context.

Of course, the correct English grammar would be "do well." But native speakers sometimes use incorrect but common speech patterns to emphasize what they are saying. The slight incorrectness makes it stand out and be noticed, and sometimes it's also as if the speaker is so caught up in the intensity of what he is saying that he has forgotten to use good grammar (he hasn't: this is done deliberately).

My guess would be that the reader saw "do good" in the text and his brain automatically substituted "get good" to avoid the (author's deliberate) error in grammar, and the people making the recording either didn't notice it or didn't think it was important enough to bother with holding a re-recording session to correct it.

Answer

Either "I don't get too good" or "I don't do too well" will work in the context.

Answers · 2

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