The catch phrase How very dare you! was originally used by English comedian and actor Frankie Howard, but has since found fame in the UK through the Catherine Tate show.

1. In this sentence, is the word very a modifier, and if so, what does it modify?

2. This sentence is obviously exclamatory in force, but is it syntactically an exclamative or an interrogative clause? Note that this sentence exhibits subject auxiliary inversion, but that subject auxiliary inversion can occur in both interrogative and exclamative clauses.

The phrase:

How very dare you!

... was originally used by English comedian and actor Frankie Howard, but has since found fame in the UK through the Catherine Tate show.

1. In this sentence, is the word very a modifier, and if so, what does it modify?

2. This sentence is obviously exclamatory in force, but, syntactically, is it an exclamative or an interrogative clause? Note that this sentence exhibits inversion, but that inversion can occur in both interrogative and exclamative clauses.

3. Is dare a modal verb here? How can we tell?