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I came across the following sentence in my textbook (上級へのとびら, lesson 12, page
279). It is part of a presentation explaining how to make 押し花:

> まず、最初にティッシュペーパーを1枚ボール紙の上に置きます。次に、そのティッシュペーパーの上に草花を並べて置きます。この時、 **あまりたくさん**
> 置きすぎないようにして下さい。

I understand the last sentence as "this time, don't put too much/many
[flowers]." But the problem is that this could be expressed already with すぎない,
without the use of adverbs, couldn't it?:

> この時、置きすぎないようにして下さい。

So I don't understand what nuance あまりたくさん adds here. Moreover, if I were to
add an adverb to stress the point, I would rather use only あまり with a negative
verb:

> この時、あまり ~~ **たくさん**~~ 置きすぎないようにして下さい。

What meaning or nuance does たくさん add after あまり?
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2022-04-14T23:21:17.200
94120
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question
meaning adverbs
What is the meaning of the combination あまり and たくさん into あまりたくさん?
So, この時、あまりたくさん置きすぎないようにして下さい can be deconstructed as follows:

  * **置き** - put in, fill

  * **たくさん置き** - put in many, fill it up

    * nice and full of flowers
  * **置きすぎ** - overfill

    * don't know whether it's been overfilled by a small or large **amount** ; just that it's in excess of the expected limit
  * **たくさん置きすぎ** - overfilled it {a lot / with too many}

    * definitely know it's been overfilled by a large **amount**
  * **あまりたくさん置きすぎない** - not overfill it very much / with so many

    * don't overfill it to such an **extent** / in excess of the limit, but still make sure its the full amount

In general speak, it's a bit like a glass of wine in a restaurant. Although
the standard **amount** is 100ml, the customer wants you to fill their glass
right up to the top (overfill it) but, not to the excessive **degree /
extent** that the wine's spilling over everywhere on their table.

Related Expressions / Idiomatic Usage：

  * できるだけ飲みすぎないようにしてください
  * 顔がたくさんすぎて気持ち悪い
  * 君に伝えたいことがたくさんありすぎて
  * たくさんありすぎる
  * 沢山すぎて
  * たくさん作りすぎたソファ

There are a few points to note here:

  * たくさん = lots of, many, much
  * 過ぎる = too much / many of N, or over-V
  * あまり～Sない = not very much / many of ～

**たくさん** is generally used to indicate the amount of something, using

  * an adverb: 今年は **たくさん** 雪が降った。A lot of snow fell this year.
  * a noun: この部屋には机が **たくさん** ある。 There are a lot of desks in this room.

**過ぎる** can be interpreted two ways in this context - put in too many _nouns_
or over- _verb_. Overfill (over-put) works better as it works better with the
amount and still enables the amari~nai pattern to indicate overfill but not to
excess or immoderately. As such, and it avoids the double adverb problem you
mentioned - 'too too much'.

**あまり～Sない** is an adverbial pattern that is used with a negative predicate to
indicate the **degree or extent** of something

  * この本は **あまり** よく **ない** 。 This book isn't very good. 
  * 鈴木さんは **あまり** 食べ **ない** 。 Suzuki doesn't eat much.
  * 私は **あまり** 速く走り **ません** 。 I can't run very fast.
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answer