enough
Use “enough” for an amount that is needed for some purpose. The amount is sufficient. It’s what a person needs, but not much more than that.
- We have enough food.
- He can run fast enough to win the race.
- Is that enough?
Polar bears are suffering because there isn’t enough ice and snow in the areas where they live.
a. Use "enough" as an adjective.
When you put the word “enough” in front of a noun, it becomes an adjective.
- We have enough butter.
- That’s enough time.
- The students didn’t get enough time to finish their work.
- The car has enough gas to make it to Chicago.
- That’s not enough water.
- Enough money has been spent.
- Enough time has been wasted.
- Not enough people support this idea.
- The car has enough fuel.
adjective = enough
noun = fuel
- They have enough apples. Now they can make a pie.
adjective = enough
noun = apples
b. Use "enough" as an adverb.
When “enough” is used with an action verb, it becomes an adverb. This is useful when commenting on the amount of performance.
- This works well enough.
- She has talked enough.
- They have done enough.
- You aren’t working fast enough.
- It doesn’t rain enough here.
Notice that “enough” comes after the verb to become an adverb. It also comes after an adjective as in the examples below:
- That’s good enough.
- That’s not fast enough.
- The water is hot enough.
- He has read enough for one day.
verb = has read
adverb = enough
- Are the clothes dry enough yet?
adjective = dry
adverb = enough
c. Use "enough" as a pronoun.
When “enough” is in the form of a pronoun, you can use it as a subject, an object, or as a subject complement.
- I have enough. (enough = object)
- Enough is being done to help them. (enough = subject)
- That’s enough. (enough = subject complement)
- Enough of the regular members are here to start the meeting. (The subject is “enough.” The prepositional phrase, of the regular members, determines if the subject is singular or plural.)
- Not enough of her time is spent with her children. (The word “enough” is the subject. The prepositional phrase, of her time, makes the subject singular. “Time” is a noncount noun, which is always singular.)
- They have had more than enough time to make a decision.
- He makes just ten dollars an hour. That’s not enough.
d. "Enough" is often followed by an infinitive.
Notice that an infinitive, to + the simple form of a verb, is often used with “enough.”
- They have enough to eat.
- They don’t have enough to eat.
- There is enough to do today.
- That is not enough to keep him busy.
- The employees of the company should be paid enough to provide for their families.
- She ran fast enough to win the race.
- I don’t exercise enough to stay physically fit.
- How much money is enough to buy a house?
- He doesn’t have enough time to finish all of the reading he needs to do for his class.
- She’s worked long enough to take a break.
e. These expressions include the word "enough."
Can you figure out the meanings of these expressions?
- Enough is enough. (Stop.)
- Is there enough to go around? (Can everyone here have some of this–whatever it is.)
- Okay, fair enough. (Okay. I agree.)
- We should leave well enough alone. (Don’t do any more. It might cause a problem.)
- Enough said. (There’s no need to say anything else on this topic.)
- I think you have had enough. (You don’t need more of something.)
- She’s had enough. (She’s tired and doesn’t want a particular activity to continue.)
- Is there enough pizza to go around? (Is there enough pizza for everyone?)