I teach foreign language students and they often write about how their food was “very delicious”, and it always sounds so jarring to me. There are a lot of really strong words that native speakers tend to not use very with.
eg:
very difficult task / very monumental task
very good cooking / very superb cooking
very happy man / very elated man
For some reason intensifiers like so and such don’t have those restrictions:
The task was very/so monumental.
It was very/such superb cooking.
He was very/so elated.
You can put ‘very’ before every suggested alternative. What then?
Most of the alternatives feel odd with a very. Eg: very powerful, sure I get your message but it sounds awkward
I teach foreign language students and they often write about how their food was “very delicious”, and it always sounds so jarring to me. There are a lot of really strong words that native speakers tend to not use very with.
eg:
very difficult task / very monumental task
very good cooking / very superb cooking
very happy man / very elated man
For some reason intensifiers like so and such don’t have those restrictions:
The task was very/so monumental.
It was very/such superb cooking.
He was very/so elated.
When very then?