Improve your English: ALL or WHOLE?

Hi again. Adam here. www.engvid.com. I have another lesson for you today. This is actually

a request by Feresque -- Feresser? I hope I'm saying it right. Sorry about that. It

was in the comments section of www.engvid.com. Please leave questions and comments and requests

and we'll do our best to get them for you. So the request was: the difference between

"all" and "whole". Now, the reason I also chose this lesson is because this is a very

common mistake that students make. They mix these two up all the time. They have very

specific roles in situations. We're going to look at them today.

The first and most important thing to remember about "all" versus "whole" is where to put

the definite article "the". So it's always "all the" whatever you're talking about, "the

whole" whatever you're talking about, so always "the" after "all", "the" before "whole". Now,

they sound a little bit similar, "all", "whole", but not. Right? So be careful about pronunciation.

Sometimes people might think you're mixing them up just because of pronunciation: "all",

"whole". Make sure you get that "H" sound and that "O" sound together.

Now, what's the difference between "all" and "whole"? "All", you're talking about "everything".

Whatever it is you're talking about, you're talking about all of it, basically: everything,

one, etc. When you're talking about "whole", you're talking about a "complete" something:

a complete package, a complete group, a complete container of something, right? Whatever it

is you're talking about, it has to be complete, right? It has pieces inside, and then the

whole is the complete collection of whatever it is you're talking about, whereas "all"

is just everything that's involved with that noun, etc. So I'm going to give you a very

quick example: You're sitting -- your friend went on a trip out of town. He had to take

the bus for two hours to his friend's house in Montreal, let's say. He comes back. You

ask him "How was the trip?", and he goes, "Oh, my God, there was a baby on the bus,

and the baby cried all the time." But if he said, "The baby cried the whole time", do

you think that it's a different meaning? Usually people will understand the same thing, but

technically, "all the time" doesn't mean two hours crying. It means "cried, stopped, cried,

stopped, cried, stopped." It seemed like he was crying throughout the trip, okay? But

if somebody said, "The baby cried the whole time", I understand "two hours, baby crying,

wah, wah, wah, two hours." It could drive a person crazy. "All the time" -- he cried

enough times that it seemed like a long time. "The whole time" means for two hours straight,

non-stop. Okay. So that's a big difference between "all" and "whole", okay? "The whole

time", I'm talking about the specific duration, the complete journey, two hours. "All the

time" - always: always crying, stopping. Always crying, stopping, crying, stopping, crying,

stopping. Not very much fun. But, "I studied all day" -- I have a test tomorrow; I studied

all day. "I studied the whole day." In this case, I would understand the exact same thing

as well. You can switch these two. But "all day" means, "I studied. I took a break. I

studied. I didn't do anything else -- only studied today." But "I studied the whole day"

means "I sat at my desk, and I studied; I didn't stop." So that's one of the big differences

between "all" and "whole". "Whole" we're talking about time, non-stop, continuous. "All" means

in that day, many times, and that's basically -- you did -- that's the one activity that

you did, okay? So this is one aspect of "all" and "whole". "The" and duration, like, "always"

and the "complete" time of whatever it is you're talking about. We're going to look

at a couple of other differences that are very important that you need to keep in mind.

Okay, so now we're going to look at a few other differences that are sometimes very

small but important. So let's look at the two examples here first: "All my friends came."

"My whole group of friends came." What do you notice first about the differences between

these two? One, the possessive adjective -- my, his, your, etc. -- with "all" comes after

"all" -- comes before "whole": "My whole group of friends came." So I can say "all my friends",

all individual friends, right? But remember what I said about "whole". "Whole" means something

complete, a complete package of something. So I have "group of friends" came. The meaning

is more or less the same, okay? But here I talk about the group; here I talk about the

individuals. Very important to remember. But most important -- possessive, after "all",

before "whole", okay? That's one. Let's look at another thing. Sometimes you

can interchange the two words. The sentence looks exactly the same, but the meaning is

very different, okay? "All cities were destroyed." So let's say for example there was an earthquake

or a volcano eruption in Hawaii, okay? In Hawaii there's -- there are many cities. Volcano

erupted; lava flowed; earth shook; etc. "All cities were destroyed." But if I say, "Whole

cities were destroyed", the meaning is very different. Here, "All cities were destroyed"

means no more cities. Every city -- destroyed. But if I say "whole cities", it means some

cities were completely destroyed, okay? I put marker on myself, sorry. "Whole cities

destroyed" means "one city, completely destroyed, but there are other cities that are okay."

This one -- no more cities; all flat, all covered in lava. Okay, so that's one other

thing. With "all", when you're talking about non-countable

nouns -- money, water, air, sugar, milk, non-countable nouns -- you're usually going to use "all".

You're not going to say "whole the money" because it doesn't make any sense because

it's not a complete thing. It's a singular, non-countable. "All the money was stolen.

All the water was drunk", or spilled or whatever the thing is. And you're not going -- and

you're usually going to use "whole" with a singular, countable noun. You prefer to use

"whole" than "all" but it depends on the situation. Now, some people are going to ask me in the

comments section -- but now they won't because I'll give you the answer right now -- why

don't I say "all of my friends"? Why don't I say it? Because I don't need to, okay? This

is an extra word. You don't need to use it. The only time you need to use "all of" is

with an object pronoun -- all of them, all of it, all of us, all of whom -- with a clause,

etc. Otherwise, you just don't need "of". It's a useless word. It doesn't help. It doesn't

do anything. If I say "the whole of", it's also the exact same. I don't need to use it.

It means "the complete package". So that's another difference.

The last one, and this is very, very important especially for those of you who are going

to be taking tests and grammar is important: "All students need to come to class early

tomorrow." "The whole class needs to come early tomorrow." Can you see the difference?

Main thing to remember: with "all" and plural, you have the matching verb, students "need".

Remember with "whole" you have a complete package, one package. The whole class "needs

to", singular with the "S", plural without the "S", okay?

So now you see all the differences between "all" and "whole", and I know that students

are going to tell me, "I studied the whole time" or "I study all -- whole the time",

that's what I hear often, "I study whole the time, but I don't improve." Now you will improve.

I hope, anyway. Go to www.engvid.com. Take the quiz. Practice a little bit more. If you

have any questions or comments, write them in the comments. Also check out my video on

www.youtube.com. Subscribe to my channel. It would be very nice of you, and I will see

you again very soon. Thanks.