very

very (vĕrʹē) adverb

verier, veriest

Usage Note: In general usage very is not used alone to modify a past participle. Thus we may say of a book, for example, that it has been very much praised, very much criticized, very much applauded, or whatever, but not that it has been very praised, very criticized, or very applauded. However, many past participle forms do double duty as adjectives, in which case modification by a bare very, or by analogous adverbs such as quite, is acceptable: there can be no objection to phrases such as a very creased handkerchief, a very celebrated singer, or a very polished performance. In some cases there is disagreement as to whether a particular participle can be used properly as an adjective: over the years objections have been raised as to the use of very by itself with delighted, interested, annoyed, pleased, disappointed, and irritated. All these words are now well established as adjectives, as indicated by the fact that they can be used attributively (a delighted audience, a pleased look, a disappointed young man) as well as by other syntactic criteria. But the status of other participles is still in flux. Some speakers accept phrases such as very appreciated, very astonished, or very heartened, while others prefer alternatives using very much. What is more, some participles allow treatment as adjectives in one sense but not another: one may speak of a very inflated reputation, for example, but not, ordinarily, of a very inflated balloon. As a result, there is no sure way to tell which participles may be modified by a bare verysyntactic tests such as the use of the participle as an attributive adjective will themselves yield different judgments for different speakersand writers must trust their ears. When in doubt, the use of very much is generally the safer alternative.