very much

Hello guys! I'm from Japan and I have a question to English speakers about the uses of the "very much".

My E-J dictionary says that "This is very much an agricultural problem" is a good English phrase but that "She is very much a pretty woman" is wrong. It explains we should not use the construction "be very much a/an ADJ NOUN" when the ADJ is gradable one. Do you agree to this explanation?　If you agree, could you give me the reason(s) why we cannot use the construction when the ADJ is gradable?

Thanks in advance

Yes, I agree. I've never really thought about this issue before, but as a native speaker, I think that your dictionary's rule makes sense.

<<If you agree, could you give me the reason(s) why we cannot use the construction when the ADJ is gradable?>>

Sorry, I don't know what the reason is.

I agree with Lazar. Nor can I quite put my finger on the reason not to use it with gradable adjectives but let me have a stab.

How much a pretty woman could one be? I suppose how much a pretty woman one is would be proportional to how pretty the woman is. If this is the case, then to be very much a pretty woman would be to be a very pretty woman. If this is true, then why not just say "She is a very pretty woman."?

No ... I'm not convinced that this is much a reason. In fact it's pretty much a load of nonsense. No, you can't say how much a pretty woman one is because this just makes no sense as noted by the dictionary.

I dunno. "X is very much a Y." How much of a Y can X be?

... I might know what the reason is. I think I know what the reason is. The problem is that ... okay another stab at it.

To be able to question how much of a Y X is Y would have to be something a thing is or is not ...

... nope ... the problem is that either I can't quite put into words the explanation that's sitting on the tip of my mind or I just simply haven't got a clue what I'm talking about.

"very much" is substandard if it is a gradable adjective.