English for Beginners: VERY, NOT VERY, VERY MUCH

Hey, everyone. I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this beginner grammar lesson

on how to use "very", "not very", and "very much". Even if you are an intermediate or

perhaps an advanced student, I imagine there will be some grammar in this video that will

still be useful or perhaps even new to you. So, let's start with the easiest of all. This

is to give intensity, right? To emphasize or make something more intense. You can use

"very" before adjectives and adverbs. So, remember, adjectives are descriptive words

like blue, red, tall, small, etc. Adverbs tell you how something is done, right? So,

these are manner or time words. In this situation, let's look at the examples.

So, it's very humid today. So, "humid" is a descriptive word. It's an adjective. It's

very humid. It's very hot, very warm, very sticky. So, this board is very light, for

example, or it's very full. So, you can use "very" to intensify adjectives. They walked

very slowly. Not just slowly, but slowly, very slowly. Okay? So, you can intensify adverbs

like slowly, quickly, fast, whatever it is. Okay?

So, next, "not very". So, "not very", let me make some space here. You can use "not

very" before adjectives to express a low degree of something. So, the example sentences we

have "He's not very patient." If you are talking about a colleague, a friend, a family member,

this is a negative quality, and you say, "He's not very patient." This means he is not patient.

Next, "She's not very serious." This means she's silly, or funny, or maybe she's not

serious in her life or her job. She's not very serious. Basically, she is not serious.

That's what you're saying. Okay? So, we have "very" before adjectives and adverbs. "It's

very humid." "They walked very slowly." We have "not very" before adjectives to express

a low degree of something. "He's not very patient." "She's not very serious." And now,

we can talk about "very much". So, "very much" is interesting because it can be used as a

formal structure or informal. So, let me give you an example of what I mean. Normally, we

use it before past participles. Now, this creates some formal sentences. It can also

come at the end of a sentence, which is more informal and much more common. So, let's look

at what I mean by formal. "She is very much disappointed." Now, this means, like, she

is really disappointed. She is disappointed. But you want to emphasize her disappointment,

you can say, "She is very much disappointed in you." Right? Like, your mother is very

much disappointed in you. This is formal. "Your efforts are very much appreciated."

So, I appreciate your efforts very much, you can say in a formal way, maybe in an email,

maybe in a conversation, this can be a professional setting, or a thank you email to an employee

or employer. "Your efforts are very much appreciated." Now, it can come at the end of a sentence as

well. So, again, you can say, "I love you very much." Okay? "I very much love you."

"I love you very much." So, you can put "very much" at the end of a sentence. This one here,

"She is very much disappointed." "She is disappointed very much." So, "very much disappointed" is,

I would say, a little more common in its formal structure than what I said. "Very much" continued.

You can also use, excuse me, alright, "I need to clear my throat." Perfect opportunity to

use real English in the moment. "I cleared my throat." Just now. Because it was very

much stuffy? Clogged? No. Anyway. Alright, so, "very much", you can use it before nouns

or adjectives. So, "We don't have very much time." This means, like, not a lot of time.

Often this works best when you are using negative sentences, like past simple, present simple,

positive, don't, didn't. "We don't have very much time." "We don't have very much sugar

at home." Something like that. And, "He is very much happy." This one is, again, also

formal, so, you know, "He is very much happy." "He is quite happy." I want to put on a British

accent when I say this, like, "He is very much happy." "He is quite happy." "He is really

happy." So, think of this as, you know, very much often used in formal contexts. If you

put it before an adjective, if you put it before a past participle, like, you know,

"disappointed", "appreciated", and if you put it at the end of a sentence, it's more

informal, like, "I love you very much." Alright.

If you want to test your understanding of "very", "not very", and "very much", as always,

you can go to engVid, you can do the quiz. I will have ten questions there for you. Let

me know what score you got after you do the quiz, and let me know if you have any questions.

Don't forget, also, to subscribe to my YouTube channel, turn on the notifications, like the

video, share it with your friends, with your family, with your enemies. Sure, why not?

Anyone, right? Everyone. Share it with everyone you know. And until next time, guys, thanks

for clicking. Bye.