Dear Mr. Lederer: I am a member of the local Womans Club. That’s the way it is currently spelled. After reading your columns I suspect you may be the one to solve the ongoing disagreement regarding the correct spelling: Womans Club? Women’s Club? Womans’ Club? Which, if any, is correct? Your answer will be greatly appreciated.

— Mary Ann, Chula Vista (Womans Club)

The possessive apostrophe indicates to or for whom something exists: Shakespeare’s plays (the plays of Shakespeare), men’s clothing (clothing for men).

Your club is for women; hence, it is the Women’s Club. It could be argued that the club is for the Chula Vista woman, but whenever I address a Woman’s Club, I notice that more than one woman shows up. This logic explains why we buy women’s clothing, not woman’s clothing, and visit the men’s room, not the man’s room.

Whatever your decision, don’t become a member of any group that calls itself a Womans’ Club.

Dear Mr. Lederer: I see and hear this all the time, most recently in the U-T, where Kevin Acee, wrote “You do have to feel badly for him.” Unless Kevin has damaged nerve endings in his fingers, he should have written “feel bad.”

The old axiom a little knowledge can be dangerous fits here. The users falsely believe that “bad,” as used by Acee, is an adverb, so it should have the suffix “-ly,” but in fact it is a state of being.

— V.C. Vint, Rancho Santa Fe

The adjective bad is the usual form following such linking verbs as look, smell, sound and taste: After the rainstorm, the water tasted bad. The contents of the refrigerator smell bad.

After the linking verb feel, bad is the most common adjective, although feel badly is frequently seen and heard, especially with the meaning of “I regret”: I feel badly that I let you down. I feel badly represents an admirable attempt to differentiate physical ill being (I feel bad) from emotional ill being (I feel badly), much in the manner of I feel good vs. I feel well. Nonetheless, I feel badly has been criticized for more than a century.

Ask the offended why they object, and their voices will slip into the tonal groove that the knee-jerk explanation has worn for itself: “If you feel badly, your finger tips must be numbed, or you’re wearing thick gloves.” Har har — but for a great number of people this disapproval is very real.

Please note that the badly in feel badly is not an adverb but an adjective, in the manner of costly, elderly, friendly, kindly, sickly and more than a hundred other adjectives that wag –ly tails. Still, many feel strongly (ahem!) that feel badly is wrongheaded.

Conclusion: At this juncture in the winding way that our language travels, you will communicate more effectively if you feel bad, rather than badly.

Dear Mr. Lederer: When to use “finish” or “done” is my question. At one time I was taught that “The cake in the oven is done” and “I am finished with the project.” Would you please clarify this for me?

— Bonnie J. Daigh, San Diego

“Your work can’t be done; it must be finished. That’s because meat is done, not work.” Many of us learned this “rule” in class or from an older family member. Yet this injunction exists as sheer rumor and doesn’t appear in any reputable usage manual.

Why? Because the distinction has no anchor in reality. In real life, standard speakers and writers employ done and finished interchangeably. In fact, Americans tend to prefer the shorter done, as in “A woman’s work is never done,” “a done deal” and (on your computer screen) “Are you done using this program?”

Please send your questions and comments about language to richard.lederer@utsandiego.com verbivore.com