The phrase "a very awful" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to emphasize the degree of something being terrible or unpleasant.
Example: "The weather today is a very awful experience for anyone trying to enjoy the outdoors."
Alternatives: "extremely terrible" or "really dreadful".
"I had a very awful childhood".
It put me in a very awful position".
As an oak falls headlong when uprooted by the lightning flash of father Jove, and there is a terrible smell of brimstone- no man can help being dismayed if he is standing near it, for a thunderbolt is a very awful thing- even so did Hector fall to earth and bite the dust.
"I worry greatly that the minorities, the Alawis and the Christians, are going to be in for a very awful time," he said, adding that he fears as well that if Muslim hard-liners take over, "the repercussions for Syria, for Lebanon and Iraq, I think, can be pretty serious".
But also, we were meeting on the day when the Newtown school shooting tragedy took place, it was a very awful day, and that turned the discussion to evil, primary evil, the balance of forces, questioning why humans do these things.
The undertaker removed the lid to expose Fanny's corpse, "and a very awful shocking sight it was".
Artemesia "is now sort of central to gender or feminist studies in art history," Mr. Christiansen said, adding that in 1998, her life was made into what he calls "a very, very awful movie".
Free booze and awkward chit-chat with people you actively avoid the rest of the year means you likely drank a lot and possibly did some very awful things.
"Was the date very awful?" asked Toad, with a gleam in his eye.
The book is ranked No. 1 in the "humorous erotica" and "gay erotica" categories despite Daniel's warning in his author biography: "I'm a comedian and very bad author, of very awful things.
"Whereas we had a crisis in Iraq that was contained — it was very awful for us and the Iraqis — this time it will be harder to contain," he said.
