For example, “so many people” and “too many people”.
In: Other
“too many people” means the amount of people is not good, there is more people here than there should be and it is a bad thing, there should be less people here.
“so many people” means the amount of people is a lot. its like wow look how many people there are here.
Here are two more examples:
Wow look at this bucket of water. There is so much water in this bucket. Its a lot of water but its ok the bucket can hold it all.
Wow look at this bucket of water. There is too much water in this bucket we have to dump some out or it will over flow.
So is a comparative adverb, used when comparing or showing a causation. For example: there was so many people in the building we couldn’t find seats or… It was too hot so we turned on the air.
Too is an adverb, a quantifier e.g. how many people were there? Too many people to count. It is also used with the meaning of “in addition” e.g.: we are all going to the store, you can come too!
“Too” implies there should be fewer people in this example.
“So” just implies there are many people without making any kind of the same kind of judgement.
“Too many” means in excess, with some degree of negative connotations, “so many” just means there were a lot, and is more neutral.
“So” typically implies a comparison, a cause, or at least a continuation of the sentence. “There were so many people…” the listener is waiting for more information. If the sentence ends there then the listener infers that there were more people than *someone* expected, or that the number of people caused something to happen that has not been disclosed yet.
“Too” implies excess and does not need more information. “There were too many people.” The listener knows that the number of people was greater than what *someone* would have liked, and that this is a negative description.
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