Be careful with the word order. We place “too” before an adjective or adverb.For example: The bed is too high. But we place “enough” after an adjective or adverb. For example: The bed isn’t low enough. Low + “enough”.

Here are two more examples that show the correct word order with “too”.

- Too + adjective.

I don’t think the mattress was too expensive.

- Too + adverb.

When you’re looking for a new mattress, don’t decide too quickly.

So in both sentences, you see “too” place before the adjective or adverb.
Alright, let’s get a little bit more complex we’ll take it to the next level.
It’s possible you want to give an explanation following two plus an adjective.

Look at the three examples. Each of them asks more information following too plus an adjective.

- The bed is too high for her to climb on.

- The bed is too high for her.

- The bed is too high to climb on.

All three examples are grammatically correct. So you see that we have three choices when we give an explanation. The explanation can take the form of “for whom?”, and it can take the form of an infinitive.
Too+ adjective+ (for whom?)+ (infinitive).

Please be careful! You’ve probably seen the word “too” written at the end of a sentence or the end of a clause. That structure has different meaning. It has nothing to do with an amount.   It has everything to do with agreement. “Too” written at the end of the sentence means “also”.   For example: My husband likes the mattress.
And I do, too = I also like it.

Let’s turn our attention now to “enough”. I said that “enough” follows an adjective or adverb.   Look at these two examples.

- Adjective+ enough

I’m tall enough to climb on.

- Adverb + enough

We’ve been sleeping well enough to convince us that the mattress was a good purchase.

In both cases, you see “enough” following an adjective or adverb.
Enough can also follow a verb. Look at these two examples.

- Verb+ enough

If you search enough, you’ll find a good product.

- Verb+ enough

We didn’t look at every mattress in the store, but we saw enough to convince us that our final choice was a good one.

In both sentences, we use the structure “verb + enough”, but I like you to understand that “enough” is working differently in each sentence. In the first, it’s an adverb. It answers the question : How? or How much did you search?
“If you search enough.”
And the second sentence, enough is a pronoun.  It answers the question What?  Enough is the object of “saw”.
What did you see? We saw enough.
Enough refers to “enough mattresses”.
As word “too”, “enough” can be followed by an explanation.

  Look at the three examples and which an adjective plus enough is followed by some form of explanation.

- The price was low enough for us to purchase the mattress.

- The price was low enough for us.

- The price was low enough to make us seriously consider the purchase.

So just as word “too”, the explanation can take the form of adjective + enough + (for whom?) or (an infinitive) or you might have both as the first example.
Take a moment to review all three examples.

Alright, before we go on, let’s quickly review the uses of ‘enough’ that we’ve seen so far. We know that “enough” can follow an adjective. Example: tall enough

We know that “enough” can follow an adverb. Example: quickly enough
And we’ve seen how “enough” can follow a verb.   And once it follows a verb, it can be either an adverb or pronoun, answering the question “How?” or “What?” Example would be: If you search enough, you’ll find what you want.
And : We didn’t see a lot of mattresses, but we saw enough to make a selection.

Now I like to share you one more use of enough. So far, you’ve seen the word order where “enough” follows an adjective or adverb, or verb. It’s possible for “enough” to come before a noun. It still has the same meaning which is the amount that you want or the amount that it is needed. It’s simply a different word order. So when you use “enough” with a noun, usually it comes before a noun.

Study the example with me.

- The store gives customers a 30-day trial with any mattress. That should be enough time to decide if one likes a mattress or not.   It was enough time for us.

Here we see ‘enough’ placed before a noun “time” and as we saw the other structures we can add an explanation in the form of an infinitive or ‘for whom?’:“Enough time to decide”, “enough time for us”.

Are you ready for another exercise?

Exercise 2: Find the mistake and correct it.

1. Our old mattress wasn’t enough firm. We needed a mattress that gave better back support.

Do you see the mistake?
“Enough firm” has the wrong word order. We need to say “firm enough”.   [adjective + enough]

2. Our old mattress was lumpy, and you could feel the springs inside.   We wanted a more comfortable mattress, one that would be soft enough for to get a good night’s rest.

Do you see the mistake?
It’s here. Remember the explanation following “enough” can either be a form of “for whom?” or “an infinitive”. So there are two ways to correct it. We can write: “soft enough for us to get a good night’s rest”, or simply “soft enough to get a good night’s rest.”

3. We didn’t want a mattress that was too cheap. Nor did we want one that cost as much as a car. We had money enough to buy a mattress of good quality.

Do you see the mistake?
Not so much the mistake that is awkward wording. It’s here. Sometimes a noun can come before ‘enough’.   But usually it sounds more natural to place the noun after.   So I would change the sentence to be:   “We had enough money to buy a mattress of good quality”[enough + noun].

4. I worried that the delivery man wouldn’t be able to get the new mattress up the narrow stairs.   I thought the mattress wouldn’t be too wide.   I was wrong, and they got it up just fine.

Do you see the mistake?
Look closely.  The mistake is here. Remember “too” by itself has the negative meaning.   And once we put it together with the negative verb, the meaning changes.   The sentence as it is written doesn’t make sense.   To correct it, we must change “wouldn’t be” to “would be”. “I thought the mattress would be too wide.”

5. Some may say our mattress very cost too much, but we believe we paid for quality and we got it.

Do you see the mistake?
It’s here.Both words “very” and “too” can strengthen a word, intensify a meaning. You can see “very much” as a phrase and “too much” as a phrase.   But we never put “very” and “too” together.   In the sentence, some are trying to explain that some people might feel we paid more than we should have, more than what was needed.   So the better word here is ‘too’.
Some may say our mattress cost too much.

In the last part of lesson, I like to share some conversational uses of “too and enough”.  I taught you that you can’t put “very” and “too” together.   But there are other words that help us intensify “too”.   “Way too” and “all too” + adjective/ adverb have the meaning of “much too”.

  For example:

- The bed is way too high.

- These kinds of mistakes happen all too often.

These are very conversational sentences.
Here are two conversational uses of ‘enough’.
We say ‘strangely enough or oddly enough’ to comment on a surprising situation.

For example:

- Oddly enough, the manager thought the mistake was funny.

We use “sure enough” to comment on an event that happened as expected meaning as we thought it would.

  For example:

- Sure enough, the store acknowledged its mistake, and gave the customer a refund.

Here are two more common conversational uses of “enough”.
You might say ‘enough is enough” to express your anger with a situation because you think it should stop.   You might say:

- “Stop arguing! Enough is enough.”

“Can’t get enough (of something/someone) means you want more and more of it because you really enjoy it.   For example:

- “I can’t get enough of your love”.

Let’s do one more exercise.

Exercise 3: Answer the questions. Try to use “too” and “enough” in your answers.

1. Oddly enough, some people prefer the floor to a bed.   How about you?  Is the floor comfortable enough for you to sleep on.

2. All too often, stores make mistakes and customers must deal with the consequences.  Describe a time you paid for the mistake made by a store or other business.

3. Sometimes, I love a song so much, I can’t get enough of it.   I play it over and over again.   What song do you love enough to listen at least 5 or 10 times in one day?

4. Was there a subject in school you found way too easy? Did you ever have a teacher who knew how to challenge you enough to make learning interesting without making it too difficult?

5. Do you feel you have enough time to study English? Do you think you spend too much time, too little time, or enough time on your studies?

Additional practice for this lesson is available at englishcafe’.com.   My user name is JenniferESL. Follow the direct link listed in the description.

That’s all for now. Thanks for watching and Happy studies!