Archive for February, 2018

All, Whole And Every

February 9th, 2018 in English Learning

All and all of

Before a noun with a determiner (e.g. articles, possessives and demonstratives), all and all of are both possible.

  • All my friends like music. OR All of my friends like music.
  • All the lights were out. OR All of the lights were out.

Before a noun with no determiner, we use all.

  • All lights went out. (NOT All of lights went out.)
  • All children love toys. (NOT All of children love toys)
  • Not all birds can sing.
  • I like all music. (NOT I like all of music.)

Before a pronoun, we use all of.

  • All of us like riding. (NOT All us like riding.)
  • All of them were present. (NOT All them were present.)

All and every

All is used with plural nouns.Every is used with singular nouns.

  • All children can be difficult.
  • Every child can be difficult.
  • All lights were out.
  • Every light was out.
  • All religions teach the same morals.
  • All paths lead to the same destination.

All and whole

All and whole have similar meanings. All is used in the structure: all (of) + determiner + noun.

Whole is used in the structure: determiner + whole + noun

  • I spent the whole week at home.
  • I spent all the week at home. OR I spent all of the week at home.