Before doing this activity you may need to read the text you will find at the end
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| Gapped text | Items |
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| This composition is horrible. It's ______________________ more complicated than the first version. | too much / too / very much / too many / very |
| I miss ______________________ you ______________________ | too many / very / too / -- / too much / very much |
| Mike is ______________________ tall | very much / too many / too much / very / too |
| This is wrong, it is ______________________ heavier than what I need. | too / too much / too many / very much / very |
| Try to speak ______________________ slowly, please | very / too / too much / too many / very much |
| He got depressed because he had ______________________ time to think | too many / very / too / too much / very much |
| We have ______________________ people here, I only need 5 or 6. | too many / very much / too / very / too much |
| He ______________________ ate ______________________ pasta | very / very much / too much / too many / too / -- |
| That song is ______________________ beautiful | very / too / too many / very much / too much |
| We have walked ______________________, let's have a rest, please!! | very much / very / too / too much / too many |
| I like ______________________ children ______________________ | too / too many / -- / very much / too much / very |
| Your exam was ______________________ easier than mine | very / too many / very much / too / too much |
| You served ______________________ soup, I can't eat all this. | too many / very much / very / too / too much |
| You're dancing ______________________ slowly, you need to go faster, this song is rock, not a waltz. | too many / too / too much / very / very much |
| I ______________________ prefer ______________________ this book to that one | too much / -- / too / too many / very / very much |
| That's ______________________ complicated, I don't understand. | very much / too many / very / too much / too |
| Everybody enjoyed ______________________ the party ______________________ | very / too many / too much / -- / very much / too |
| This mayonnaise has ______________________ oil, it tastes bad. | too much / very much / very / too many / too |
| Things happened ______________________ quickly, I got confused. | very / very much / too much / too many / too |
| She ______________________ likes ______________________ cookies | too much / very much / -- / very much / too many / very / too |
VERY/TOO + adjective/adverb
- That tree is very big
- She sings very beautifully
- That mountain is too high for me
- You speak too fast
But we use VERY/TOO MUCH before comparatives
- He is very much taller than his brother (positive idea)
- This is too much more expensive, I can't buy it (negative idea)
Rest: VERY MUCH / TOO MUCH
(+ noun) I don't have very much money [but "very much" with nouns is not common, see note 2 below]
He drank too much gin tonic at the party
(+ verb) I think you work very much / too much
Remember that we don't normally separate a transitive verb from its direct object, and this is especially true for VERY MUCH:
- I like your house very much
- I very much like your house
not: I like very much your house (like + your house)
For more advanced learners
Note 1: VERY MUCH usually expresses a positive idea, TOO MUCH always expresses a negative idea (it is an excess), but in colloquial English (especially American English) you can use TOO MUCH with a positive sense meaning "very very much".
- Oh man, I like this song too much, it's so cool!!
Note 2: VERY MUCH is not very common with nouns, and we only use it with negative sentences. TOO MUCH with nouns is always ok
- I drank very much wine (uhm... ok but not recommended)
- I didn't drink very much wine (not common)
- I drank too much wine (OK)
Also, remember the use of MUCH and MANY. We use MUCH with singular nouns and MANY with plural nouns. The same is true for VERY/TOO MUCH/MANY
- There were too many people and they ate too much food
- That's too much for me
- There are too many cars in the street
