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Laborious Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

too or very?

Dear all,

what's the difference between too and very in the following sentences?

1) I'm afraid, I'm too busy today.
2) I'm afraid, I'm very busy today.

Do they mean the same thing? Or is there any difference (even a slight) between them?

Thank you.
  

Top answer

Let's leave out the "I'm afraid" part for a while. "too" means "excessively" so "I'm too busy (today)" would normally imply that "I don't have the time to do what you want me to do" (I'm too busy to help you). "I'm very busy (today)" ("very" = "really/to a considerable degree") in certain circumstances could imply that "I'm still going to help you even though I have a lot of other things to do", but on the other hand "I'm afraid" seems to introduce your refusal to help right at the beginning.

— Ozzourti

  • Let's leave out the "I'm afraid" part for a while.
  • "too" means "excessively" so "I'm too busy (today)" would normally imply that "I don't have the time to do what you want me to do" (I'm too busy to help you).
  • "I'm very busy (today)" ("very" = "really/to a considerable degree") in certain circumstances could imply that "I'm still going to help you even though I have a lot of other things to do", but on the other hand "I'm afraid" seems to introduce your refusal to help right at the beginning.
  • Both are grammatical of course if you remove the comma, but I'm leaning towards 1) for the reason stated above.
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1 Answers
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Let's leave out the "I'm afraid" part for a while. "too" means "excessively" so "I'm too busy (today)" would normally imply that "I don't have the time to do what you want me to do" (I'm too busy to help you).

"I'm very busy (today)" ("very" = "really/to a considerable degree") in certain circumstances could imply that "I'm still going to help you even though I have a lot of other things
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