Can “so” and “very” be used together?

Question

Is it correct to use so and very together in a single sentence? For example:

You are so very funny.

Is it grammatically correct or not?

Answer 1

The modification of one adverb by another is frequently found in English and is perfectly grammatical. Here so reinforces very, itself an intensifier.

Answer 2

So very is used as intensifier of very, in negative, affirmative, and interrogative sentences, such as the following ones:

You will forget so very much because you are overwhelmed at each stage.

The end result is not so very different from that of the railway compartment.

The input to filter w(n) is the sinusoidal sweep, so very little adjustment should be needed to get nearly perfect cancellation of the sinusoidal portion of the combined signal.

What is so very interesting here is that the overwhelming majority reports being either extremely or very happy with that predictability.

The Corpus of Contemporary American English contains examples of phrases using so very that are distributed over different sections as in the following graph.

Looking at the Corpus of Historical American English, I find the following sentences:

Mary Erskine was so very useful at home, that a convenient time for sparing her never came.

At one end of the room is a great fire-place, so very spacious, that there is room enough for three or four boys to stand in each of the chimney corners.

They shone so very brightly.

The graph showing the usage of so very over time is the following one.