Too, Enough and Very
Expressing Sufficiency, Insufficiency, and Excess
Enough expresses sufficiency; it shows there is as much as needed and there isn’t any more need:
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- There are enough shoes.
- The house is big enough for our family.
Enough suggests a positive feeling about the situation.
- Not enough expresses insufficiency; it shows there is less than necessary or desired.
- There is not enough flour to bake this cake. (I want more flour.)
- The bathroom is not big enough (I want a bigger bathroom.)
Not enough suggests a negative feeling about the situation.
- Too expresses excess (more than needed) or insufficiency (less than needed) depending on the word that follows.
In both situations too suggests a negative feeling about the situation:
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- The price is too high. (EXCESS: The price is higher than I want to pay.)
- The bed is too small. (INSUFFICIENCY: (It is less than I want, I want something bigger.)
- This tea is too cold.
- He talks too quickly.
- He is too young to drive.
How to Use Enough, Not Enough, and Too
Enough
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- Enough follows adjectives, adverbs, and verbs:
- This house is big enough. This house is not big enough.
- He speaks well enough. He does not speak well enough.
- We have heard enough. We have not heard enough.
- She drank enough. She did not drink enough.
- Enough go in front of nouns:
- We have enough information. We do not have enough information.
- There are enough visitors inside. There are not enough visitors inside.
- Enough can be used with an adjective, adverb, verb, or noun followed by an infinitive.Adjective + infinitive:
- She is old enough to drive.
- Adverb + infinitive:
- They word hard enough to earn a promotion.
- Verb + infinitive:
- We saved enough to buy a house.
- Noun + infinitive:
- I have enough ingredients to make a cake.
- Enough follows adjectives, adverbs, and verbs:
- Too
- Too goes before an adjectives and adverbs:
- She is too short.
- They run too slowly.
- Too + adjective is often followed by an infinitive:
- The soup is too hot to drink.
- We were too tired to stay up until midnight.
- Too + adjective is often followed by for + noun / pronoun + infinitive:
- The book was too hard for him to read.
- He spoke too fast for the children to follow his instructions.
- Too goes before an adjectives and adverbs:
Too Much and Too Many / Too Little and Too Few
- Too + much is used with noun-countable nouns:
- Jason has too much work.
- Too + many is used with countable nouns:
- There are too many animals in this house.
Too much and too many express excess, and suggest a negative feeling about the situation.
- Too + little is used with non-count nouns:
- There is too little time to finish this.
- Too + few is used with count nouns:
- The meeting was cancelled because too few members are able to join.
Too few and too little express insufficiency, and therefore suggest a negative feeling about the situation.
Too versus Very
Very adds emphasis
Too shows that something is excessive or more than enough
- I will see you on Thursday. This writing is small.
- I will see you on Thursday. This writing is very small. (but I can read it)
- I will see you on Thursday. This writing is too small. (I cannot read it)