Allandeveryare determiners.
We use bothallandeveryto refer to the total number of something.Allrefers to a complete group.Everyrefersto each member of a complete group:
The questionnaire was sent toall employees.
The questionnaire was sent toevery employee.
We can useeveryto focus on each individual member.
| refers to the whole group |
(We usetheirinstead ofhisorherto refer back to a singular noun (passenger) because we are referring to both male and female passengers.) | focuses on each individual member of the whole group |
We can useall, but notevery, on its own without a noun. We useeveryone/everybody/everythinginstead:
The meeting is at Oriel Hall. It begins at 8 pm andallare welcome.
Not: …every is welcome
Everyoneis welcome to join the village social club.
See also:
Every
Allandevery+ nouns
The meaning ofallandeveryis very similar but we use them in different ways. We useallwith plural and uncountable nouns andeverywith singular nouns:
All donationswill be sent to the earthquake relief fund.
All equipmentmust be returned by the end of June.(uncountable)
Every donationis appreciated.
We can useallandall ofbefore determiners, but we don’t useeverybefore determiners:
I invitedall (of) myfriends.
Not: …every my friends
All (of) the
We can useallandall ofbefore articles (the, a/an), demonstratives (this, that) and possessives (our, his) but we can’t useeverybefore them:
[talking about a library]
It has gotall (of) thebooks that have ever been published.
Not:It has got every the bookorIt has got the every book
She’s gone toall (of) theirconcerts this year. She hasn’t missed one.
Not: …every their concerts
See also:
All of
Allwithoutof
All day,every day
We useall day,all week,all monthto mean ‘one entire day/week/month’:
We spentall dayat the beach yesterday.
Every day(week/month)focuses on each individual day (week/month):
We spentevery dayat the beach in the holidays.
Not:We spent all days at the beach
Fuel prices are risingevery week.
Not:Fuel prices are rising all weeks.
Allorevery: typical errors
We don’t useeverybefore determiners:
He soldall (of) hisbooks.
Not: …every his books.
We don’t useeverywith uncountable nouns:
All (the) informationcan be saved in the computer memory.
Not:Every information can be saved…
We don’t useeverywith plural nouns:
We should organise a trip forall students.
Not: …for every students
We don’t useeveryon its own without a noun; we useeveryone,everybodyoreverythinginstead:
He suggested cancelling the trip andeveryone agreed.
Not: …every agreed
See also:
Every
Everyone,everybody,everything,everywhere