Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,
Are the following expressions grammatically correct?
1.very, very i.e. I'm very, very angry
2. very right, i.e. You're very right.
3. so very , i.e. I'm so very angry
4. many, many, i.e. Many, many years ago I learned German
5. not very many, i.e. Not very many people like you. Also, I've only heard the expression "not very many" used in the negative. Can it be used in other ways, i.e. "Very many of my colleagues like me."
6. so very, i.e. I'm so very angry with you.

2 would sound better to me with 'totally' or 'so' (sooo).

3 seems a bit prissy. 'I'm really angry!' (or ruder words) ought to do the trick.

I'd agree that 5 sounds better in the negative. Generally I prefer to teach phrases like 'a lot of', that can be used positively as well as negatively (not a lot of/a lot of...V-n't) and help avoid some of the problems connected to countability.

6: see 3 above.

"Very" is an adverb, so it can be combined with "many" if it is used as a determiner but not if it's used as a pronoun. "Very many of my colleagues like me." is incorrect. "Very many people at my company like me." is OK. However, stylistically it would be redundant in this context. In other contexts, it would be appropriate, e.g. "Very many people visit her facebook page."

"Very right" also has stylistic problems when "right" is not being used in a gradable sense, "His mathematical calculations were very right". Compare that with, "I think she was very right to unfriend him".