as good as completed the essay

"The essay was as good as finished/completed." sounds better to me.

I would use “He all but completed the essay” or “He just about completed the essay”. I don’t see anything per se wrong with your sentence. I have just never seen it worded that way and don’t suggest you use it. If you want to use “as good as completed” I would word it like “The essay was as good as completed”, though I’ve still never heard anyone say that sentence myself.

If you said, “the essay’s as good as done.” You are implying it’s in really good shape, it’s almost done. Maybe also implying you are proud of it. The essay’s wouldn’t need more than final little tweaks or edits. A synonymous way to say that: “the essay is basically done!” or “the essay is essentially done!” But- these words (basically, essentially, or as-good-as) can have nuance with tone- there are also ways that would be spoken out loud, the way that you speak the words that could mean close to the opposite. “basically” or “essentially“ can actually have different implied meanings with different tone. Like if you say “the essay’s is basically done” with a tone of finality or excitement, it means what I was just saying before- it’s as good as done. BUT- If someone says, “my essay is *basically* (pretend that’s in italics, idk how to do italics on iPhone, but meaning you say it drawn out and with emphasis, bAAAysically done)” you are implying the opposite! Not sure how to get this point across in writing. If your teacher says “hey have you finished your essay?” And you aren’t even close to finished, or barely started it, maybe you’re embarrassed or remorseful about that, you might say, “well, it’s *basically* (insert drawn out tone here, idk how to describe it) done”, you are essentially trying to not have to admit that you didn’t really do the essay yet. Kind of like making an excuse. But at the same time that tone is letting the teacher know that you maybe kind of started it, but you know you haven’t completed the amount of progress that would be expected at this point. This is a nuanced discussion. But typically you use “as good as” at the end of a sentence, to say something is “basically”, or “might as well be” something else. It’s not really too common. And it’s usually used in a crass context anyways. Like “he’s as good as dead.” It’s not usually used in polite context. Your other example in your comment with the team- “the team as good as won,” also sounds really weird. I’m not sure what you’re trying to communicate. Is the game in progress or over? If you said: “the team almost won.” Then I would assume the game is over, and our team lost, but only by a small margin. They almost won. If you said “the team basically won” (which is what your sentence was closest to), then I wouldn’t know what you meant. Did they win or not? It’s black and white if a game is won or not. So that is confusing. However is the game is still in progress, and you said “the game is as good as over” that could imply that there is one team obviously about to win, and the opposing team doesn’t really stand a chance, even if there is technically more time left in the game. Then that could make sense. There is a lot of nuance and fine distinction to this.