2017-12-05 Grammar: too/enough degree complements

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 131 exercise 3 - Complete the sentences with “too” or “very”.
1 too
2 very
3 too
4 very
5 too
6 too, very
7 very/too
8 very
9 very
10 too
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“too” and “not...enough” mean something is impossible or will cause some problems
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We can combine intensifiers with “too”:
That’s way/far/much too expensive.
That’s really too expensive.
That’s a little too expensive. / That’s a bit too expensive. / That’s a little bit too expensive.
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p. 132 exercise 7 - With your partner, choose some things from the list that you don’t like. Tell your partner why you don’t like it, using “too” and an intensifier.
They are far too corrupt.
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We can use “not” with an intensifier to make the opposite point a bit nicer.
He’s pretty stupid. -> He’s not very smart. / He’s not the smartest.
She’s quite lazy. -> She’s not so hard-working. = She’s not such a hard worker.
p. 133 exercise 8 - Rewrite these sentences with “not” and a different intensifier.
1 She’s not really friendly.
2 The boss is not really happy with you.
3 I don’t like homework very much.
4 Matt isn’t so good at cooking. / Matt isn’t such a good cook.
5 Denise doesn’t like listening to other people’s problems so much.
6 This office isn’t very spacious.
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Degree Complements tell you about a consequence of the degree of something:
- “too” and “not enough” mean something is impossible:
This desk is too big to fit in my room.
This table is too small for my family to eat lunch.
You aren’t old enough to retire.
She isn’t young enough to order a children’s meal.
- “not too” and “enough” mean something is possible
This desk isn’t too big to fit in my room. It will be fine.
He is old enough to retire. He plans to finish working next month.
(You can also use “for” + noun phrase to explain the consequence: It’s too cold for a party.)
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too + adjective/adverb: too expensive, too quickly
too + much/many/little/few + noun: too much money, too many people, too few students
verb + too + much/little: know too much, sleeps too little

adjective/adverb + enough: cheap enough, fast enough
verb + enough: know enough, sleep enough
enough + noun: enough money, enough students
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Homework: p. 135 exercise 9
1 Denise is too busy to take a vacation right now.
  Denise has too many responsibilities to take a vacation right now.
2 The pace of work is too hectic for Denise to do her best work.