All & Every?

1. All and everybody/ everyone 

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

•   Everybody enjoyed the party, (not 'All enjoyed...')

 

 But note that we say all of us/ you/ them, not 'everybody of...':

• All of us enjoyed the party, (not 'everybody of us')

 

2.All and everything

Sometimes you can use all or everything:

• I’ll do all I can to help,  

or I’ll do everything I can to help.  You can say 'all I can' / 'all you need' etc. but we do not

normally use all alone:• He thinks he knows everything, (not 'he knows all')• Our holiday was a disaster. Everything went wrong,

(not 'All went wrong')

We use ALL in the expression all about:

• They told us all about their holiday.

We also use all (not 'everything') to mean the only thing (s): • All I've eaten today is a

sandwich. (= the only thing I've eaten today)

3. Every/ everybody/ everyone/ everything

These are singular words, so we use a singular verb:

• Every seat in the theatre was taken.• Everybody has arrived, (not 'have arrived')

 But we often use they/ them/ their after everybody/ everyone:

• Everybody said they enjoyed themselves. (= he or she enjoyed himself or herself)

4. All day, every day *We never say all days; we say every day.

*We use all with some singular countable nouns, e g: day, morning, year meaning ‘the whole of’.

*We use every with day, morning, etc to say how

often something happens. Compare:I worked all day (=the whole of the day, from morning to evening)I worked every day (= Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc)

More example sentences:

•Is everybody happy with that?• Does everyone understand my position?

•Everything she owns has been stolen.•All she wants now is to get back home to her parents.

•All that happened was that she got on to the wrong train.•Is everything finished?

•Has all (of) the cake been eaten?•All (of) my friends have come to my party.

•All of us are going to Sam's party next week. We're all going.

•All of them were singing Happy Birthday.

•They were all singing Happy Birthday when the lights went out. Note from the above examples that all and all of are mainly used with uncountable (e.g. cake) and plural (e.g. presents, friends) nouns. With personal pronouns, two realisations are possible, e.g. all of us or we all.

All of us like coffee = We all like coffee

PRACTICE1.Complete with all, every, everybody or everything

•Example: My favourite TV programme is on at 8.30 every Tuesday morning.

a. What time do you usually get up ___morning?b. The weather was terrible yesterday, so we spent ______ day at home.c. I tried ______ key in the lock, but none of them fitted.d. ____enjoyed the film except Peter.e. I’m really tired. ____I want to do is go to bed.

.

f. Listen to me please. I can explain ______.

g. Has Sarah told you ____about her holiday in Austria?h. It was late when Mark arrived home and ____ was asleep.i. Did you remember to switch off ___ the lights?j. I believe ___ word he says.k. Have you packed _____into this suitcase?l. I learnt ___ I know about physics at school.

ANSWERS A. every B. all C. every D. everybody E. All F. everything

G. All/ everything H. everyone I. all J. every K. everything L. all