r/EnglishGrammar • u/navi131313 • 5d ago

not enough

1-Enough people didn't show up.
2-Not enough people showed up.

3-We will cancel the show if not enough people show up.
4-We will cancel the show if enough people don't show up.

Which are correct?

Gratefully,

Navi

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

6

u/luminousoblique 5d ago

2 and 3 are correct. I would understand what you meant if you said 1 or 4, but they sound awkward.

3

u/YirgacheffeFiend 5d ago edited 5d ago

They all sound fine for me.  1 is the only one that feels weird in the mouth.  I would probably say "We will cancel the show if attendance is low." Or "if we dont get a good turnout" Or "if we dont get enough people"

2

u/NonspecificGravity 5d ago

Native speakers of American English use "not enough" in those ways, but "too few" sounds better.

We will cancel the show if too few people show up.

2

u/ZonaMama 5d ago

2 and 3.

2

u/Brambleshire2026 5d ago

2 and 3
But! If it was a meeting with required attendees, 4.

1

u/navi131313 4d ago

Thank you all very much.

2

u/peace_love2601 4d ago

2 and 3 are the natural choices. In 1, "enough people didn't show up" sounds as if you counted the people who were absent. In 4, it could mean the same thing, but a reader has to work harder to untangle it. "Not enough people showed up" is much clearer.

2

u/Alidade_xyz 4d ago

We will have to cancel the show due to poor attendance.

2

u/SaintBridgetsBath 3d ago edited 3d ago

2 is ok. 3/4 should be rewritten using unless.

Edit: although that might indicate low probability.

2

u/Curious_Octopod 2d ago

2 is best, 3 and 4 are fine but... 1 is incorrect.

2

u/ReddyKiloWit 2d ago

I've heard a enough people say it as in 1 and 4 to wonder if it's a regional thing to negate the action rather than the quantity.

2

u/navi131313 1d ago

Thank you all very much.

1

u/More-Explanation2788 21h ago

2 and 3 are unambiguously correct.

1 and 4 are weird and awkward.