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[jays]

Is the following sentence correct? ( For me, "terribly not supportive" seems more natural. )
--- the following ----
Her colleagues were not terribly supportive.

[CP]

You would not hear a native speaker say, "Her colleagues were terribly not supportive," but you would hear, "Her colleagues were not terribly supportive."

The adverb "terribly" is used here as a substitute for "very." Sometimes people use "terribly," "frightfully," "fearfully," "dreadfully," and "awfully" instead of "very" in such sentences. It's more a British convention than an American one. "Oh, I was ever so dreadfully worried that you would not find the tea to your liking!"

The overuse of "frightfully" by the British upper crust -- and pronounced by them more like "fraffly" -- has led to some people calling the Queen's English "Fraffly."
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