English Grammar - Too and enough

Resource centre > English grammar > teaching too and enough

too & enough

form

too + adjective or adverb
too much/many + noun

adjective or adverb + enough
enough + noun

functions & examples

We use too to mean more than sufficient or more than necessary.
It's too late to stop him.
Jerry was too young to watch the movie.
There are too many people on this train, there's nowhere to sit.
You have too much money, give some to me.

We use enough to mean sufficient and in a negative sentence to mean less than sufficient or less than necessary.
You're not working fast enough, you won't finish on time.
Your clothes are big enough to fit me.
Have you got enough money to buy me a drink?
Sorry, I haven't got enough food for everyone.

important points

We can use enough without a noun if the meaning is clear.
There's a lot of food but not enough for everyone.

We use enough of or too much/many of before pronouns and determiners.
Not enough of my friends are coming to the party.
You've eaten too many of those cakes.

We can replace enough with the before a noun.
I don't have the money to go on holiday.
His company doesn't have the resources to do the job.

We can use time or room alone to mean enough time or enough room.
Is there room in your car for one more person?
Do we have time for a coffee?

teaching too & enough...

"Give the rules of both in a very simple way and give importance to exercises, example sentences. I start with "too", students convert the sentences from "too" to "enough".

She is too young to go to a disco by herself.
........................................................ (enough)
She isn't old enough to go to a disco by herself."
Anonymous

"Find pictures, for example a small girl standing next to a bicycle (adult) and say, "What's the problem? Why can't she ride the bike?" The students should come up with "It's too big or she's too small"..."
Monica

Send to a friend Share

▲