Difference between too and else

[Jamgirl]

Can someone help me please? I have an ESOL student who asked me to explain the difference between 'too' and 'else' and I could only give examples, e.g. 'I'm going too', and 'Who else wants to come?' but no real explanation.

Help please!

[5jj]

'Too' just means 'as well, in addition', 'else' normally means 'in addition/as an alternative, other/different' as in:

What else do you do on the internet besides watching films?

I sit and home and read; there's not much else I want to do.

In the following examples, there is not a great practical difference between the meanings of 'too' and 'else':

Who else wants to come?
Who wants to come, too?

[Soup]

Can someone help me please? I have an ESOL student who asked me to explain the difference between 'too' and 'else' and I could only give examples, e.g. 'I'm going too', and 'Who else wants to come?' but no real explanation.

Help please!

Whilst else can mean in addition to, it can also mean other:


Someone else will finish the work.
Someone other than Tom will finish the work.

What else do you want to do?
What other things do you want to do?

What else could I have done?
What other thing could I have done?

Where else would you like to go?
Where other than here would you like to go?

Who else wants to come?
Who other than you wants to come?

When else can you come?
When/at what other time can you come?

How else/in what other way can you explain it?

[Jamgirl]

Thank you for that - I couldn't quite get past the 'too' meaning of else. Thinking of else in terms of 'other than' has been very helpful.