can we use too much with verbs
Hello everyone!
Can we use too much with verbs or we must use very much
like:
She works too much
or
She works very much
also
She sleeps very much in a day
or
She sleeps too much in a day
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 4
2
Hi Ali,
To answer your first question, you can certainly use both adverbs with verbs. There is some difference though.
"Very much" means something that is done to a great extent or for emphasis. "Very much" is not only used for positive statement but also for negative meanings too.
Examples: I love her very much. (positive meaning). If I say "I love her too much", the meaning becomes negative. I feel I should cut down on the amount of affection that I shower on her.
Another example: I disliked the movie very much. (negative meaning)
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"Too much" means overdoing something which becomes excessive or unacceptable.
"She works too much." (Correct. You are concerned and feel that she is putting in too many hours at work.)
"She works very much." (It sounds more natural to say "She works *a lot." or "She works very **hard.")
* We use "a lot" for countable nouns. Here, we can imagine the number of hours that she puts in for her work. We can count "hours", so we can use "a lot" here.
Reference URL: https://www.thefreedictionary.com/a+lot (Look under definition 1a.)
** "Hard" can also be used as an adverb of manner to describe how she worked.
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She sleeps too much in a day. (Correct. You feel that she should not be sleeping for so many hours.)
or
She sleeps very much in a day. (It sounds more natural to say "She sleeps ^a lot in a day.")
^Again, we can imagine the number of hours that she sleeps which is countable. To express this large number, we can use "a lot".
I hope this helps.
1
FYI: About 'very much"
In American English, we usually use "very much" in a negative sentence, and "a lot" in an affirmative sentence.
She works a lot.
She doesn't work very much.
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I like that a lot.
I don't like that very much.
1
very much = a lot, which is more natural:
She works a lot, he sleeps a lot. (a high amount)
but 'too much' means it's a problem! :)
0
You can use both but the meaning is different. If you use 'very' that means 'to a great degree'. On the other hand, if you use 'too' it would imply that there is more than enough of something.
For example:
She ate too much. - this means that she ate more than enough, now she is full.
She ate very much. - this means that she ate a lot of food.
Let's use your examples.
She works too much - She works more than needed
She works very much - She works a lot.
She sleeps very much in a day - She sleeps a lot.
She sleeps too much in a day - She sleeps more than it's necessary.
Hope this helps! :)
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