About very

Abstract There is a peculiar class of degree modifiers, represented by very in English, that can occur in definite descriptions with no apparent gradable property, such as the very man we saw yesterday . These modifiers are commonly assumed to have the same mechanism of modification as regular degree modifiers, like really and extremely . This paper argues that this assumption is fallacious. Modification by very and its kin involves a special mechanism that crucially relies on the availability of a context shift of a particular kind. This special mechanism explains the appearance of very in definite descriptions with no gradable properties and also accounts for a number of additional facts about the distribution of very .