put the adverb "too"

[trueheart_205]

Could someone put the adverb "too" into below sentence to make it natural:
"It is a big dog" .How many ways to place this adverb?
Thanks!

 

[tzfujimino]

Hi, trueheart.:-D
Please let me try.

It, too, is a big dog.
It is a big dog, too.
It is too big a dog.

These are all I can think of.
(I think they are all grammatical, but...I feel something unnnatural.
It might be because the original sentence is too simple!)

Please wait for naitive speakers' reply.

 

[trueheart_205]

What about "It is a too big dog"
:lol:

 

[emsr2d2]

Not as a natural English sentence, no. If, as part of a discussion, people have agreed that "too big" is a specific type of dog that they've been talking about, it might be possible but I would put it in quotes.

We've got three types of dog here today: small, big and too big! A chiahuahua is a "small" dog. A German Shepherd is a "big" dog. For me, a Rhodesian Ridgeback is a "too big" dog.

 

[TheParser]

What about "It is a too big dog"
:lol:

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

I believe that your sentence is fine if you change the order of the words a bit -- just as tzfujimino told us:

Wife: Why won't the manager of our new apartment let us bring our darling dog with us?

Husband: She says that it is too big a dog for that small apartment.

"It is a too big dog" is not idiomatic (that is, native speakers have decided not to use their language that way).

*****

Here is how A Grammar of Present-Day English by Pence & Emery explains it:

"Sometimes the article a (an) is placed immediately before a noun ["a dog"] that is modified by an adjective ["big'] or an adjective that in turn is modified by an adverb ["too big"]."

Here is an example that they give. (The dialogue is only my idea)

Mona: Everyone in country X is intelligent.

Tom: Well, yes, the people in country X are, indeed, very intelligent, but I think that to say everyone there is intelligent

is too sweeping a statement. ("sweeping" = wide. In other words, there must be some people in country X who are

NOT intelligent.)


*****

Here are some more examples from Harper's English Grammar by Dr. John B. Opdycke:

too severe a strain
too great a sacrifice


HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

[BrunaBC]

Hi,

The Parser, this is the example you gave:

Tom: Well, yes, the people in country X are, indeed, very intelligent, but I think that to say everyone there is intelligent is ​

too sweeping a statement.


Is it ok if I say:

[...] but I think that to say (or saying that) everyone there is intelligent is a
too sweeping statement.
(In this case 'sweeping' works as an adjective, and in the original one it plays a verb, right?)​

Thank you.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hi,

The Parser, this is the example you gave:

Tom: Well, yes, the people in country X are, indeed, very intelligent, but I think that to say everyone there is intelligent is ​

too sweeping a statement.


Is it ok if I say:

[...] but I think that to say (or saying that) everyone there is intelligent is a
too sweeping statement.
(In this case 'sweeping' works as an adjective, and in the original one it plays a verb, right?)​

Thank you.

Hi!:-D
It's too complicated a question to answer!
Please go to : https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...o-honest-merchant-he-too-honest-merchant.html

TheParser has kindly given another explanation for this one.:-D

 

[BrunaBC]

Living and learning! As he said, "we have to accept" :roll:

It sounds ok for me hearing It's a cute dog, and odd hearing It's cute a dog! I'll study that in deep until I absorb this new information.

 

[5jj]

It sounds ok for me hearing It's a cute dog, and odd hearing It's cute a dog!

It's cute a dog is not natural English. People in this thread have been discussing sentences with too + adjective + a + noun.