Very much

Question

1. I am very much interested in joining your group.2. I am very much worried about her.3. I am very much happy.Are all 3 correct? What’s the rule for “very much”?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

fold scarf 1011. I am very much interested in joining your group.

Here 'very much' is followed by a past-participle adjective, and that adjective has a complement telling us what you are interested in.

I'd call it slightly formal, but not extremely formal. It's more common to say just "I am very interested in ...".

fold scarf 1012. I am very much worried about her.

Here you have the same pattern as in the first one, above. All the same comments apply. It's more common to say "I am very worried about ...".

With the pattern shown in the two examples above, you can also put 'very much' at the end:

I am interested in joining your group very much.
I am worried about her very much.

fold scarf 1013. I am very much happy.

This case is different. The adjective is not a participle and it has no complement. Because of this, it doesn't sound as good, though it is not wrong. It's more common to omit 'much' and add a complement:

I am very (much) happy to see you after all these years.
I am very (much) happy with my progress in English.

I would omit 'much' in the two sentences above, and I would not put 'very much' at the end.

The same comments apply with the adjective 'afraid':

William is very (much) afraid of snakes.
Sara is very (much) afraid to drive at night.

Another situation where 'very much' occurs is before a comparative.

very much smaller; very much bigger; very much higher; very much lower; very much greater; very much richer; very much more trustworthy

Of course, you can omit 'very' in these cases.

Here's a bonus fact. We use 'very much alive' when we had reason to believe that someone had died but is then is found to be alive.

2009: Canada's transport minister, a Conservative called John Baird, sent a text to Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, telling him that his cat Thatcher had died. But Harper took the message, which simply read 'Thatcher has died', to mean the former British Prime Minister had passed away. The prime minister asked an aide to prepare an official statement and the rumour mill went into overdrive. The British government later confirmed that Margaret Thatcher was very much alive.

This expression is also used metaphorically.

The tango is very much alive and constantly evolving.
The company produces annual revenues of $3 billion. This is proof that U.S. textile manufacturing is very much alive.

CJ

Very much

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