TOO MUCH/ TOO MANY

Too Meaning In Excess or Overly

There is sometimes confusion over the words too and to. The word too has two uses. The one covered on this page is the use of too meaning in excess, overly, or more than it should be.


Examples:

My Labrador eats too much and is too chubby. 

(eats more than it should and is chubbier than it should be)

Karen cannot reach Southampton in an hour; it is too far. 

(in excess of what she can achieve in a hour)

I tried to catch you, but I was too slow.  

(overly slow or slower than I should have been)

A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies.  Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

(cannot be overly careful)

You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.  James Thurber (1894 - 1961)

(more people than you should be able to and more times than you should be able to)

Too comes before adjectives and adverbs:
It's too hot to wear that coat. 

I was driving too fast.

4. Too may also come before nouns when it is used with the expressions too much and too many.

a. Too much is used before uncountable nouns.

There is too much salt in this food.

b. Too many is used before countable nouns

There are too many students in this classroom.