All

1) three or more items All refers to three or more items. Compare:
I'll take all three shirts, please.
I'll take both shirts, (not .. .-all two shirts.)
2) subject, object or complement

All can be the subject, object or complement of a sentence.

All that matters is to be happy.

I gave her all she asked for.

That's all.

3) all with nouns and pronouns

All can modify a noun or pronoun. Two positions are possible: with the noun or pronoun:

All (of) the people were singing. I haven't read all of it.

Give my love to them all. with the verb:

The people were all singing.

4) all with adjectives, adverbs, etc

All can be used to emphasise some adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions.

You're all wet. I was all alone.

I looked all round, but I couldn't see anything.

Tell me all about your holiday.

It's all because of you.

all, everybody, and everything

1) all and everybody

We do not normally use all to mean 'everybody'. Compare:

All the people stood up. Everybody stood up. (not All stood up.)

2) all and everything

All can mean 'everything', but usually only in the structure all+ relative clause (all that...). Compare:

- All (that) I have is yours. Everything is yours, (not All is yours.)

- She lost all she owned.

She lost everything, (not She lost all.) This structure often has a rather negative meaning, expressing ideas like 'nothing more' or 'the only thing(s)'.

This is all I've got.

All I want is a place to sit down.

All that happened was that he went to sleep. Note also That's all (= 'It's finished'; 'There's no more').

3) older English

In older English, all could be used alone to mean 'everybody' or 'everything' (e.g. Tell me all; All is lost; All are dead). This only happens regularly in modern English in dramatic contexts like newspaper headlines (e.g. SPY TELLS ALL).

all (of) with nouns and pronouns

1) all and all of

All (of) can modify nouns and pronouns.

Before a noun with a determiner (for example the, my, this), all and all of are both possible. American English usually has all of

She's eaten all (of) the cake.

All (of) my friends like riding.

Before a noun with no determiner, we do not normally use of.

All children can be difficult, (not All of children...)

2) all of+ personal pronoun

With personal pronouns, we use all of+ object form.

All of us/you/them can be the subject or object of a clause.

All of us can come tomorrow, (not All we...)

She's invited all of you.

Mary sent all of them her love.

3) pronoun + all

We can put all after pronouns used as objects.

She's invited you all.
Mary sent her love to them all.

I've made us all something to eat. This does not happen with complement pronouns or in short answers.

Is that all of them? (not Is that them, all?)

'Who did you invite?' All of them.' (not "Them all.') All can follow a subject pronoun (e.g. They all went home), but in this case it belongs grammatically with the verb and may be separated from the pronoun (e.g. They have all gone home).

4) types of nouns

All is used mostly before uncountable and plural nouns.

all the water all my friends

However, all can be used before some singular countable nouns referring to things that can naturally be divided into parts.

all that week, all my family, all the way

With other singular countable nouns, it is more natural to use whole (e.g. the whole story).

5) negative verbs

It is not very common to use all + noun as the subject of a negative verb (e.g. All Americans don't like hamburgers). We more often use not all + noun + affirmative verb.

Not all Americans like hamburgers.

Note the difference between not all and no. Compare:

Not all birds can fly. No birds can play chess.

6) leaving out the

It is sometimes possible to drop the after all (e.g. all day, all three brothers).

all with verbs

When all refers to the subject of a clause, it can go with the verb, in 'mid-position' (like some adverbs.

auxiliary verb + all

am / are / is / was / were + all

We can all swim.

The guests have all arrived. Those apples were all bad.

all + other verb

My family all work in education.

They all liked the soup.

Note that these meanings can also be expressed by using all (of) + noun/pronoun as the subject.

All of us can swim. All (of) the guests have arrived.

all and every

All and every can both be used to talk about people or things in general, or about all the members of a group. There is little difference of meaning; every often suggests 'without exception'. The two words are used in different structures.

1) every with singular nouns; all with plurals

Every is used with a singular noun. To give the same meaning, all is used with a plural noun. Compare:

every + singular

Every child needs love, (not All child needs love.)

Every light was out.

all + plural:

All children need love.

All the lights were out.

2) all with determiners

We can use all, but not normally every, with certain determiners (articles, possessives or demonstratives). Compare:

all + determiner + plural

All the lights were out.

I've written to all my friends.

every + singular

Every light was out. (not The every light...) I've written to every friend I have.

(not every my friend I my every fricndi)

3) all with uncountables

We can use all, but not every, with uncountable nouns. I like all music, (not ... every music.)

4) all = every part of

We can use all with place names and some singular countable nouns to mean 'every part of, 'the whole of.

All New York was talking about her affairs.

I've been round all the village looking for the cat.

Note the difference between all day I week etc and every day I week etc:

She was here all day. (= from morning to night)

She was here every day. (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,...)

all and the whole

1) word order

All (of) and whole can both be used with singular nouns to mean 'complete', 'every part of. The word order is different.

determiner + whole + noun all (of) + determiner + noun

- Julie spent the whole week at home. Julie spent all (of) the week at home.

- my whole life all (of) my life

2) indefinite reference

All is not generally used before indefinite articles.

She's eaten a whole loaf, (not ... all a loaf)

3) uncountable nouns

With most uncountable nouns we prefer all (of).

I've drunk all (of) the milk, (not .. .-the whole milk:)

4) the whole of

Instead of whole we can generally use the whole of.

Julie spent the whole of the summer at home.

the whole of my life

Before proper nouns (names) and pronouns we always use the whole of not whole. All (of) is also possible.

The whole of / All of Venice was under water, (not Whole Venice...)

I've just read the whole of / all of' War and Peace'.

I've read the whole of / all of it.

5) plural nouns

With plural nouns, all and whole have different meanings. All is like every; whole means 'complete', 'entire'. Compare:

All Indian tribes suffered from white settlement in America.

(= Every Indian tribe suffered...) Whole Indian tribes were killed off.

(= Complete tribes were killed off; nobody was left alive in these tribes.)