Unit 83. All, every, and whole

A.
All everyone everybody everything

We do not normally use all to mean everyone/everybody:

  • Everybody enjoyed the party, (not All enjoyed …)

  • Ann knows everyone on her street, (not… all on her street)

    Sometimes you can use all to mean everything, but it is usually better to say everything:

  • He thinks he knows everything, (not knows all)

  • It was a terrible vacation. Everything went wrong, (not all went wrong)

    But you can use all in the expression all about:

  • They told us all about their vacation.

    We also use all to mean the only thing(s):

  • All I’ve eaten today is a sandwich. (= the only thing I’ve eaten)

    B.
    We use a singular verb after every/everyone/everybody/everything:

  • Every seat in the theater was taken.

  • Everybody looks tired today.

  • Everything she said was true.

    But we often use they/them/their after everyone/everybody, especially in spoken English:

  • Has everyone got their tickets? (= his or her ticket)

  • Everybody said they would come. (= he or she would come)

    C.
    All and whole

    We use whole mainly with singular nouns:

  • Have you read the whole book? (= all the book, not just a part of it)

  • He was very quiet. He didn’t say a word the whole evening.

  • She has spent her whole life in South America.

    We say the/my/her, etc., before whole. Compare:

    the whole book / all the book her whole life / all her life

    You can also say “a whole … “:

  • Jack ate a whole loaf of bread yesterday. (= a complete loaf)

    We do not normally use whole with uncountable nouns:

  • all the money (not the whole money)

    D.
    Every/all/whole with time words

    We use every to say how often something happens. So we say every day / every week /

    every Monday / every ten minutes / every three weeks, etc.:

  • We go out every Friday night.

  • The buses run every ten minutes.

  • Ann goes to see her mother every three weeks. All day / the whole day = the complete day:

  • We spent all day / the whole day on the beach.

  • I’ve been trying to find you all morning / the whole morning.

    Note that we say all day / all week, etc. (not all the day / all the week)

    For all see also Units 78 and 102c.

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