Quote:
Originally Posted by naomimalan 
Try saying very with the strong adjectives below. You'll see it doesn't work.
Ordinary............. strong
bad.. .....................awful
ugly.................... hideous
tasty ...................delicious |
It may just be a feature of NZ English, but in every example you list above, "very" would not be thought incorrect, unnatural or nonstandard here. "Very awful", "very hideous" and "very delicious" are not uncommon. The usage is similar to that found in the US Constitution with its call for "a
more perfect union", which upsets some who say that a marker of degree like "more" can't be used with a superlative like "perfect". The use of "very" with "delicious" would be particularly unremarkable, and would be the most commonly heard of the three. "Very wonderful", though, does sound a little awkward, and I can't recall having read or heard it before now.