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Words expressing sufficiency are not numerous, but their grammar can cause problems

VARIETY AND FORMS OF SUFFICIENCY WORDS

Sufficiency is usually expressed in English by enough or, more formally, a word containing the letters SUFFIC-. Both of these alternatives can represent different word classes (i.e. be different “parts of speech”). The possibilities are as follows:

It may seem strange that the same spelling can represent so many different word classes, but this is quite common in English – for other examples, see 3. Multi-Use Words and 153. Conjunction Uses of “that”. In this post I wish to clarify how the above and some other sufficiency words are used, and to describe some grammatical structures that are particularly associated with them.

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THE CONCEPT OF SUFFICIENCY

A sufficient quantity is one that meets a desired level. For example, if food is desired to a level that overcomes hunger, a sufficient quantity is the amount that achieves this – either exactly or with some to spare. The idea of sufficiency can be linked not just with pleasant ideas like food but also unpleasant ones like noise or suffering. In such cases, making the link usually implies a desire for the supply to stop. For example, enough noise tends to imply “I do not want any more noise”.

The idea of sufficiency is not the same as that of abundance – despite my computer’s thesaurus listing abundant, ample and plenty as synonyms of sufficient. These words refer to a quantity that most people would consider well above average. In most cases, such a quantity will ensure sufficiency (often being referred to as more than enough), but this is not inevitable: an abundant quantity can still fail to meet a sufficiency level that is very high. Thus we can say that an abundant quantity is not necessarily sufficient just as a sufficient one is not necessarily abundant.

This difference between sufficiency and abundance is useful for deciding whether or not particular statements are expressing sufficiency. Compare the following:

(a) People were wealthy enough to own a car.

(b) People were so wealthy that they could own a car.

The presence of enough in (a) certainly makes it a statement of sufficiency. But is so in (b) a true paraphrase? I would argue not. Sentence (a) tells us nothing about the overall wealth of people – they might indeed be quite poor. Sentence (b), however, does link people with wealth – so means “very”. A suitable paraphrase might be were very wealthy and consequently could….

Alongside the sufficiency statement in (a), there is also the naming of a consequence (…to own a car). Consequence-naming is common but not compulsory in sufficiency statements. It is typically done by adding a to verb on to the end of the sentence (see the last part of 32. Expressing Consequences).

Negative sufficiency statements are most easily made by placing not before enough or in- before sufficient(ly). Statements with too, e.g. …too poor to own… in (a), are similar (see 13. Hidden Negatives), but like so statements they are probably not exact sufficiency equivalents: too poor appears to indicate more poverty than not wealthy enough.

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GRAMMATICAL VARIATION OF SUFFICIENCY EXPRESSIONS

Sufficiency expressions are of various grammatical types.

1. Noun/Pronoun Uses

When enough acts like a noun, it is considered to be not a noun but a pronoun. It has grammatical features of pronouns (e.g. inability to be used after a or the), and like most pronouns it refers to different (sufficient) things in different situations (see 28. Pronoun Errors). In the following example, enough is the subject of its sentence and represents a sufficient quantity of something like “work” or “action”:

(c) Not enough is being done to alleviate world poverty.

The noun sufficiency does not seem to be very usable instead of the pronoun enough. It certainly could not replace enough in (c). The place where it seems most able to do so is after there – e.g. there is a sufficiency (of)… – though this is rather wordy. The main use of sufficiency seems to be not for asserting a sufficiency but as a means of talking about an already-established one, like this:

(d) The sufficiency of the government’s measures was clear.

A more usable alternative to the pronoun enough is all (that) combined with NEED or similar (BE NECESSARY, HAVE TO etc.) + is. A famous example is the Beatles song title All You Need is Love (= love is enough). A more everyday example might be All (that) we have to do is wait.

The last word in such statements must correspond to all; if it does not, all will mean “everything” instead of “the sufficient thing” (see 293. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 4, #6). Linking all (that) with a verb that is not like NEED will also change the meaning of all (to “the only thing”). Care is needed in using all (that) not to say *all what instead (see 231. Confusions of Similar Structures 3, #1).

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2. Adjective Uses

Enough acts like an adjective when it gives information about a nearby noun, like this:

(e) Deserts exist where there is not enough rainfall.

In this case, enough directly precedes its noun. It can also follow it, either in the normal way with a link verb in between (…where rainfall is not enough) or, unusually, without one (demand enough). The adjective-like status of enough is confirmed by the fact that, in the two main positions, the adjective sufficient is a perfectly acceptable, if slightly more formal, alternative. The adjectives adequate and satisfactory are also synonyms, though the latter rather negatively suggests more would be better (see 284. Words with a Surprising Meaning, #5).

With the adjective-like use, a following to verb in the active voice may have either active or passive meaning. In (e), the former would be understood with the ending …where rainfall is not enough to water the land, the latter with …not enough to record (see 83. Adjectives before a “to” Verb).

Strictly speaking, however, it is not quite accurate to call enough an adjective in the above examples. Instead, it falls into the category of “determiners” – adjective-like words that replace rather than accompany a(n) or the before a noun (see 110. Nouns without “the” or “a”). Thus, although it is possible to say the sufficient effort of…, one cannot replace sufficient with enough.

Another limitation of adjective-like enough is that it is not usable with all noun types (a characteristic shared by many other determiners – see, for example, 169. “All”, “Each” and “Every”). It can accompany uncountable nouns (e.g. enough evidence) and plural countable nouns (e.g. enough people), but not singular countable ones (*enough person). Sufficient is the same.

To overcome the inability of adjective-like enough to accompany the or a(n) directly before a noun, one must use the pronoun form instead. This means adding of between enough and the or a(n). For example, one has to say enough of the money to refer to particular money rather than money in general (the meaning in enough money).

To use a(n) after enough of, the noun must, as usual, be countable, e.g. enough of a disaster. In such cases, the sufficiency is of quality rather than quantity: not the number of (disasters) but the size or importance of (a single one).

When using of after enough, care is needed to follow it with a(n) or the (or similar, e.g. this): placing a noun directly after of, e.g. *enough of money, is a common error (see 133. Confusions of Similar Structures 1, #1). For more on the use of of after quantity words, see 160. Uses of “of”, #5.

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3. Adverb Uses

Enough and sufficiently (and also adequately) are adverbs when they add information about a word that is not noun-like. The partner word may be a verb, adjective or other adverb (see 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs, #2). In the following sentence, it is a verb:

(f) Children thrive if they play enough (play sufficiently/adequately).

When enough partners a verb, it must usually follow it. Care is needed to distinguish the adverb use in this position from the pronoun one. In the pronoun use, enough is the object of the verb. It is recognisable as such if there is no other possible object and the verb is the kind that normally needs one (see 8. Object-Dropping Errors). In (f), enough would be a pronoun if the verb was do instead of play.

When enough partners an adjective or adverb, it must come after – cf. wealthy enough in (a) above. This makes enough different from other “degree” adverbs like fairly, quite, rather, so, too and very (see 194. Adverbs that Say How Much). Sufficiently can always replace enough, but it must go first (sufficiently wealthy).

One other relevant adverb is only. In suitable contexts before a noun it means “not enough”, as for example in only one week describing schooling received in a year (see 251. The Grammar of “Only”).

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4. Verb Uses

The verb SUFFICE is mostly used without a directly-following noun (“object” or “complement”) so that it is “intransitive” and hence not usual in the passive voice (see 113. Verbs that cannot be Passive). As the table above indicates, it normally corresponds to BE ENOUGH, e.g.:

(g) The rainfall suffices (= is enough) to meet the needs of the population.

The fact that SUFFICE is a single word makes it useful for paraphrasing (see 270. Paraphrasing Adjectives with Words of Other Kinds). It easily combines with the kind of to verb that is common after enough (to meet above), and also with for + NOUN (…suffices for everyone).

A fixed phrase containing SUFFICE is suffice (it) to say (that…). Used either at the start of a sentence or as a parenthetical statement, it normally signals indirect speech. It means that negative information is being withheld, and as such illustrates the “characterising” use of indirect speech (see the end of 127. When to Use Indirect Speech). The reason why suffice lacks -s in this phrase despite the singular subject (it) is that it is in the rare unchanging form known as the “subjunctive” (see 118. Problems with Conditional “if”, #6).

A less formal synonym of SUFFICE is DO, used without an object. It typically needs to accompany a “modal” verb like will, should, can, may, might or could: (see 213. Special Uses of “Do” 2, #1). To replace suffices in (g), for example, we could say will do. The verb MEET can express sufficiency too, but only with a suitable object, e.g. meet a/the need and meet expectations. Informally, one can also say come up to expectation (uncountable without -s).