Surprisingly enough vs very surprisingly

Question

I am not a native speaker of english language but I have noted that surprisingly enough is used more often than very surprisingly. What is the real difference between two?

Enough and very both are intensifers which I think are very(enough) close to each other.

Enough : occuring in such quantity or scope as to fully meet demands, needs or expectations.

Very : to a high degree

Now the confusion is that when should I use very and when to use enough. Consider these two examples :

Surprsingly enough, Ramesh's management was very responsive.

Very surprisingly, Ramesh's management was very responsive.

We can also consider this :

Sadly enough, he broke his leg in a car accident.

Very sadly, he broke his leg in a car accident.

I think the line of difference between very and enough is sometimes faded. Anyway, I would like to know the difference and also what is more common with native speakers?

Answer 1

To me, "enough" is less intense than "very". It means that a threshold is reached, but doesn't go beyond that. Here is a definition:

Merriam-Webster "enough"
adverb
1 in or to a degree or quantity that satisfies or that is sufficient or necessary for satisfaction : sufficiently
2 fully, quite he is qualified enough for the position
3 in a tolerable degree she sang well enough

All of those meanings are less intense than "very".

This dictionary calls it a partial synonym of "very":
American Heritage "enough"
adverb
1 To a satisfactory amount or degree; sufficiently: Is the fish cooked enough?
2 Very; fully; quite: We were glad enough to leave
3 Tolerably; rather: She sang well enough, but the show was a failure.

Still, I wouldn't use it as a synonym for "very"; most of the definitions point to a degree that is sufficient for something, but not necessarily very.

In your two examples, I would use "surprisingly enough" for Ramesh's unexpected responsiveness, unless the expectation was that he would fail miserably. I would use "very" for the sadness of the broken leg, because "enough" seems like an intentional understatement.