enough
after adjectives and adverbs
You use enough after an adjective or adverb to say that someone or something has as much of a quality as is needed.
It's big enough.
We have a long enough list.
The student isn't trying hard enough.
If you want to say who the person or thing is acceptable to, you add a prepositional phrase beginning with for.
That's good enough for me.
Is the soup hot enough for you?
If someone has as much of a quality as they need in order to do something, you add a to-infinitive after enough.
The children are old enough to travel to school on their own.
You can also use a to-infinitive after enough to say that something has as much of a quality as is needed for someone to do something with it. If you want to make it clear who you are talking about, you can add a prepositional phrase beginning with for. For example, you can say ‘The boat was close enough to touch’ or ‘The boat was close enough for me to touch it’.
The bananas are ripe enough to eat.
The music was just loud enough for us to hear it.
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Be careful
Don't use a that-clause after enough when you are saying what is needed for something to be possible. Don't say, for example, ‘The bananas are ripe enough that we can eat them’.
Don't use a that-clause after enough when you are saying what is needed for something to be possible. Don't say, for example, ‘The bananas are ripe enough that we can eat them’.
Enough is sometimes used after an adjective to confirm or emphasize that something or someone has a particular quality.
It's a common enough dilemma.
When you make a statement of this kind, you often add a second statement that contrasts with it.
She's likeable enough, but very ordinary.
used as a determiner
Enough is used in front of the plural form of a countable noun to say that there are as many things or people as are needed.
They need to make sure there are enough bedrooms for the family.
Do we have enough chairs?
You can also use enough in front of an uncountable noun to say that there is as much of something as is needed.
We had enough room to store all the information.
He hasn't had enough exercise.
‘enough of’
Don't use enough immediately in front of a noun phrase beginning with a determiner, or in front of a pronoun. Instead you use enough of.
All parents worry about whether their child is getting enough of the right foods.
They haven't had enough of it.
When you use enough of in front of a plural noun or pronoun, you use a plural form of a verb with it.
Eventually enough of these shapes were collected.
There were enough of them to fill a large box.
When you use enough of in front of a singular or uncountable noun or a singular pronoun, you use a singular form of a verb with it.
Is there enough of a market for this product?
There is enough of it for everybody.
used as a pronoun
Enough can be used on its own as a pronoun.
I've got enough to worry about.
Enough has been said about this already.
‘not enough’
Don't use enough, or enough and a noun, as the subject of a negative sentence. Don't say, for example, ‘Enough people didn’t come'. You say ‘Not enough people came’.
Not enough has been done to help them.
Not enough attention is paid to young people.
modifying adverbs
You can use adverbs such as nearly, almost, just, hardly, and quite in front of enough.
At present there is just enough to feed them.
There was hardly enough time to have lunch.
You can also use these adverbs in front of an expression consisting of an adjective and enough.
We are all nearly young enough to be mistaken for students.
She is just old enough to work.
used with sentence adverbials
You can use enough after sentence adverbials like interestingly or strangely to draw attention to a surprising quality in what you are saying.
Interestingly enough, there were some questions that Brian couldn't answer.
I find myself strangely enough in agreement with Jamal for a change.