TOO and ENOUGH | Use and Meaning in English

TOO and ENOUGH | Use and Meaning in English

This is a complete tutorial for beginners about the meaning and use of English words “too and enough”.

In this lesson you will learn the meaning of too and enough and then I’ll explain how to use too and enough with adjectives, adverbs and nouns.

Watch the video here.

https://youtu.be/0TLCVb6n0po

Let’s start.

The laptop was too expensive, so we didn’t buy it.

The final exam was easy enough for everyone to pass.

Both “too” and “enough” describe the degree of (level) something. In the 2 examples above, they are used with adjectives.

Too -meaning

We will look at our example again.

“The laptop was too expensive, so we didn’t buy it”

This means that the price of the laptop is very high costing a lot of money.

It is more than what is needed.

Too means “more than what is needed or wanted.” It also means “more than suitable. More than enough. The degree of something is excessive.

too + adjective

“The lady walks too fast.” Too is before the adjective.

“He is too young to play football.”

In this example the form is; too before the adjective and here we have an infinitive. So, we have the verb in the infinitive:

too + adjective + infinitive

“He is too young to play football.” The meaning of this sentence is “he can’t play football because he is too young, he is excessively young.

too + adverb

We can also use too to modify an adverb. Remember an adverb describes a verb.

The baby is crying too loudly.

The bus driver drives too fast.

Too comes before the adverb.

too many + countable noun

Too may also come before noun and if the noun is a countable noun then we use too many.

There are too many employees in this office.

My brother has too many friends.

In the example above “employees” and “friends” are countable nouns and the “countable noun” must be in the plural form.

too much + uncountable noun

Too much is used before uncountable nouns.

Uncountable nouns are always in the singular form.

Examples:

The soup has too much salt.

I’ve spent too much time working on this project.

enough + meaning

The final exam was easy enough for everyone to pass.

This means that the final exam was achieved without great effort. It’s sufficient for the students to pass. It’s just what the students need and nothing more.

Enough means:

The sufficient degree of something

The necessary degree of something

adjective + enough

The project was difficult enough for him to complete.

He is qualified enough to do the job.

Enough comes after the adjective.

Enough + adjective + infinitive

adverb + enough

An adverb gives us more information about the verb, it says how or in what way.

I can’t understand her.  She doesn’t speak slowly enough.

enough comes after the adverb.

Rafael Nadal is playing well enough to win the match.

adverb + enough + infinitive

enough + countable nouns

The students have enough books in the classroom.

Enough is before the countable noun.

The countable noun is in the plural form.

Are there enough cups forthe children?

This means “are there sufficient number of cups””?

enough + uncountable nouns

1. Sorry, there isn’t enough tea for everyone.

Enough is before the uncountable noun.

Uncountable nouns are always in the singular form.

2. I would like to buy a pair of jeans but I don’t have enough money.

Exercise 1

Fill in the gap using “too” and “enough” to complete the sentence.

1. I don’t feel very well. I’ve eaten __________ much.

2. Don’t worry. We still have __________ time to get there before it closes.

3. She’s __________ young to go to discos.

4. He’s __________ young to vote, but old enough to go to war.

5. The disco is __________ far to walk.

6. The film was rubbish. After 20 minutes I had had __________.

7. This town isn’t big __________ for the two of us.

8. I had __________ much wine at the party and behaved rather badly.

Exercise 2

Choose the correct word; too much, too many, too or enough.

1. There’s ____________ smoke in here, I can’t breathe.

            a. too                          b. too much               c. too many

2. We don’t earn ____________ money to buy a car.

            a. too                          b. too much               c. too many

3. She loved my writing; she said my novel was good____________ to win the prize.

            a. too much               b. enough                  c. too many

4. I know I eat ____________ , but I need a lot of energy for my job.

            a. too many               b. enough                  c. too much

5. I don’t think the door is wide ____________ for the piano, they’ll have to open it up.

            a. too much               b. too                          c. enough

6. ____________ money can do harm to young people. Some advice is always necessary.

            a. too                          b. too much               c. too many

7. The kid eats _____________ sweets and felt sick afterwards.

            a. too  much              b. too                          c. too many

8. This tea is much_____________ hot for me to drink.

            a. too                          b. enough                  c. too many

Answers:

Exercise 1                             Exercise 2

1. too                                      1. too much

2. enough                              2. too much

3.. too                                     3. Enough

4. too                                      4. too much

5. too                                      5. Enough

6. enough                              6. Too much

7. enough                              7. too  much

8. too                                      8. too

Downloadable Material

Here’s the downloadable material of Tutorial on TOO and ENOUGH | Use and Meaning in English here.

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