What is the meaning of the combination あまり and たくさん into あまりたくさん?

Question

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?

Answer 1

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.