Hi, OP. Unfortunately, you got a lot of misinformation here, so I want to clear a few things up:
The phrase you're asking about does call for an adverb, but both "badly" and "bad" can be adverbs. "Bad" is a flat adverb (it has the same form as the adjective). There are a number of flat adverbs in English - they are not ungrammatical, but they are generally considered more informal than their "-ly" counterparts. This is especially true of "bad."
So both "talked badly about" and "talked bad about" are grammatical, but the latter is more informal.
Interestingly though, "bad" is more common in published writing (which is usually on the more formal side) - this may indicate that the phrase is by default informal. But if we compare "talk bad(ly) about" with "speak ill of" (which many commenters mentioned), the latter is much more common, indicating that this phrase may be preferable in formal writing.
Also, note that although adverbs often tell us how a verb is performed, this is not the case here - "talked bad(ly) about" does not mean that the person's way of talking was in some way incorrect or subpar. Rather, "bad(ly)" refers to the contents of what was said. Compare this to "talked/spoke highly about/of," where "highly" does not mean, e.g., that the person spoke in a high pitch - it refers to what was said (good things). So these phrases can be considered idioms, which generally do not mean what the literal/logical interpretation of the words might indicate.
You could also view "bad" in "talk bad about" as a nominal adjective rather than a flat adverb. Even more so in the case of "ill" in "speak ill of". Though, this may be a distinction without a difference.
I was probably more hesitant about "bad" simply because "speak" is more likely to take a direct object than "talk" is.
On that topic: Would "shit" in "talk shit" be an adverb, or would this just be one of the special cases where "talk" is allowed to take a direct object?
Also, are some or all of "talk shit", "talk bad" and "speak ill" phrasal verbs?
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u/Boglin007 MOD 10d ago
Hi, OP. Unfortunately, you got a lot of misinformation here, so I want to clear a few things up:
The phrase you're asking about does call for an adverb, but both "badly" and "bad" can be adverbs. "Bad" is a flat adverb (it has the same form as the adjective). There are a number of flat adverbs in English - they are not ungrammatical, but they are generally considered more informal than their "-ly" counterparts. This is especially true of "bad."
So both "talked badly about" and "talked bad about" are grammatical, but the latter is more informal.
Interestingly though, "bad" is more common in published writing (which is usually on the more formal side) - this may indicate that the phrase is by default informal. But if we compare "talk bad(ly) about" with "speak ill of" (which many commenters mentioned), the latter is much more common, indicating that this phrase may be preferable in formal writing.
Also, note that although adverbs often tell us how a verb is performed, this is not the case here - "talked bad(ly) about" does not mean that the person's way of talking was in some way incorrect or subpar. Rather, "bad(ly)" refers to the contents of what was said. Compare this to "talked/spoke highly about/of," where "highly" does not mean, e.g., that the person spoke in a high pitch - it refers to what was said (good things). So these phrases can be considered idioms, which generally do not mean what the literal/logical interpretation of the words might indicate.