We generally use modifiers such as "so" and "very" for gradable/normal adjectives (water can be quite/so/very HOT, but not quite/so/very BOILING (an ungradable/extreme adjective). Yet would you say the following sentences–which, I'd say, are quite commonplace in colloquial speech–are grammatically incorrect?
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You told the teacher I'd been cheating? You're SO dead! ("Dead", obviously, is ungradable.)
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Simon Cowell was seen with his VERY pregnant girlfriend. (A woman is either pregnant or not–it can't be graded.)
Best Answer
Sometimes words you may consider not gradable are used as gradable.
"Very pregnant" means last months of pregnancy, belly extremely bulged, movement impaired - a girl within first trimester can work at most jobs just fine. One who is very pregnant needs a lot of help.
When you simmer or boil your pasta, it's just boiling. If the water splashes all over the stove, or the cover is jumping on the pot, it's very boiling and you should reduce heat to let it simmer.
When you broke your mother's vase, she isn't going to commit a murder. Still, you're "so dead!" - meaning you're in a lot of trouble. In this case "dead" is used as hyperbole, synonymous to "in trouble" and that, in order is perfectly gradable.