>Would people agree that this sentence is in the passive voice?
>        I get paid a large sum each month.
 
No. 'Get' is a normal full verb - cf 'I don't get paid ...'. As an auxiliary
this sentence would be a Shakespearian 'I get not paid ...'.
It's an active sentence, structurally, albeit similar in meaning to a
passive sentence, but just similar, not equal. It you call this a
passive sentence, you would have to call 'The book sells well' a passive
sentence, too.
 
Form and meaning should not be mixed up as it often is, and not just in
traditional grammar. (Traditionally, the above sentence is said to be
passive.)
 
       I get paid very much for my work.
 
The object is 'very much', not just 'much'. And 'much' is not a noun,
but a quantifier or whatever you may want to call it. I call it a
numeral, which means I can describe it the same way as the definite
numerals - structurally they behave very similarly. They fill (e.g.)
object slots on their own, or modified by adverbs (not adjectives!),
'very much', or by prepositional phrases, 'three of them', 'much of it'.
 
In some cases they can be regarded as noun modifiers with the noun being
zero: 'There were lots of pretzels on the table. I ate five 0.' This is
not possible with 'five of them' - 'five pretzels of them' doesn't make
sense, does it?
 
>So "very" is here an adjective modifying the noun "much"?
 
>>So what is "much" quantifying in "I don't like it very much"?
 
Here 'much' is not a quantifier, but a degree adverb, and 'very much'
fills a free adverbial slot.
 
And now for the usual grammarless beer.
 
  Burkhard Leuschner
  Paedagogische Hochschule,  Schwaebisch Gmuend,  Germany
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