Re: so vs very 1. Yes - but it's all relative. I love hot water. If you don't, your "incredibly hot" might be my "tepid". Again it depends on the speaker's viewpoint and how much emphasis they want to add.
2. Yes
3. T's utterance - both are possible depending on how emphatic she wants to be.
4. J's utterance : very - possibly, if there's heavy stress on "Why" which marks it as an echo question (though this is probably less likely); so - much more likely for the same reason as I said before : the speaker means "to the degree that you describe/that I see". And as in (4), yes, the emphasis might indicate surprise, or possibly criticism : That was a rubbish test. It was so easy! Anybody could have passed As always, it depends on the context. |