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wikipedia.org:

The predicative expression accompanying the copula, also known as the complement of the copula, may take any of several possible forms: it may be a noun or noun phrase, an adjective or adjective phrase, a prepositional phrase or another adverb or adverbial phrase expressing time or location.

According to Wikipedia, "very much" isn't an adverbial phrase in the sentences below because it doesn't express time or location:

macmillandictionary.com:

1. We’re very much a family, and we stick together.

2. Palmer is very much the man in charge of the team.

merriam-webster.com:

3. The company is still very much an important part of the community.

4. She is very much in control of the situation.

oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com:

5. The emphasis is very much on learning the spoken language.

How does "very much" function in these sentences?

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    "Much" is a determinative, so "very much" is a DP functioning as a degree modifier in the copular clause "we're very much a famiy".
    – BillJ
    Commented Sep 22, 2019 at 8:41
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    "We very much are a family" is also valid, so it's clear "very much" is not modifying the noun phrase.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 10:25

3 Answers 3

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It acts as an intensifier, to add emphasis to the statement that is being made. You can't use very on its own in sentences of this type ("We are very a family"); you have to say very much.

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Coming from a general linguistics background, the reasoning here seems somewhat confused. An adverb doesn't have to express time or location, it isn't defined by its semantics at all. I'm not an expert in syntax, but one approach might be to say an adverb phrase is a modifier of a non-NP, headed by an adverb.

Regardless, as Kris points out, the AdvP still isn't the predicative expression here. The core reason seems to be that 'very much' isn't doing what we would expect a predicative expression to do, which is to be the thing connected to the subject by the copula.

One explanation may be because it's a modifier, and the predicative expression is a complement. According to some theories of syntax modifiers can always be left out, while complements never can. So, since "We are a family" is grammatical, very much must be a modifier here, modifying the VP.

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  • Hello, Sam. There are different schools of analysis (look at all the different 'grammars'), so bald statements like '... complements never can [be left out]' (while a position held by most) need to be accompanied by whose pronouncements these are (eg, CGEL / Huddleston & Pullum, here). You may want to look at the conflicting definitions, still not harmonised, for 'complement' ,in the relevant thread here on ELU.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 10:10
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    @EdwinAshworth I'm aware of some of these disagreements, at least, and I will edit my post to better reflect that fact. However, it doesn't seem to me that that invalidates my core point.
    – Five Peaches
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 11:26
  • @EdwinAshworth I hope these edits provide a little less extreme of a claim, while still substantially addressing the point :)
    – Five Peaches
    Commented Jun 23, 2022 at 11:33
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It's an adverb modifying (emphasizing) the verb be. Cf. certainly, surely etc.

We (are) (very much) a family.
        ↓             ↓
        verb ← adverb of emphasis

HTH.

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