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Are the phrases “very well above,” “so well above,” and “so much above” correct? Example sentences:
The bridge is very well above us.
The bridge is so well above us!
The bridge is so much above us!
I know that we can say “well above” or “very much above.” I wonder if we can also say these phrases I provided. I feel the third one is okay, but I am less sure about the others especially the second one.
Personally I would say well above and very much above and none of the other options. However, let us take a look at Google Ngrams:
It seems like in the past "so much above" was more common, with "very much above" a distant second. More recently, both uses have decreased significantly, though "so much above" has made a slight comeback. The other three options ("very above," "very well above," and "so well above") are all but nonexistent.
But if we add "well above" to the search:
It blows all the other uses out of the water in contemporary usage. Although it is declining, it is still an order of magnitude more common than the other two possibilities.
Edit to respond to your bounty: "The helicopter is so much above us" is not something a native speaker would say. Instead: "The helicopter is [so/very] high [above us]."
The "above us" would not really be necessary unless the speaker was themselves very high above the ground and wanted to emphasize that the helicopter was even higher than that.
I would not use any of your suggestions in the context in which you are proposing.
"Well above" is something native speakers say when talking about gradations - for example, "his reading skills are well above average".
In a context like your example where you are talking about height, we would say something is "high above", or possibly "far above".
The bridge is high above us.
In informal speech, I would most often use way:
The helicopter is way above us.
The bridge is way up high.
Our car is way on the other side of the parking lot.
It might be more of an American English usage, I'm not sure.
