12 English Expressions with ALL: "for all I know", "all along", "all talk"...

Hello.

My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you some new expressions.

These expressions all have the word "all" in them.

Okay?

So you're going to learn a lot of new words today, or a lot of new expressions.

So, let's get started.

The first expression I want to teach you is one of my favourites: "an all-nighter".

So, an all-nighter is when you stay awake for over 24 hours.

So, you do not sleep.

So, who pulls an all-nighter?

Usually students before an exam or a test might pull an all-nighter; or maybe somebody

has a big project and they don't have time to sleep because they want to finish the project,

so they might pull an all-nighter.

You'll notice that the verb we often use with "all-nighter" is "pull".

An all-nighter is a noun, so we have "an".

"I pulled an all-nighter."

This means: I did not sleep for more than 24 hours.

When I was a student, I only pulled an all-nighter once.

Okay?

Which is good.

That's pretty good.

Have you ever pulled an all-nighter?

I hope you're not the type of person that pulls all-nighters all the time, because I

have a friend who does that all the time, and - ugh, seems so terrible.

So that's the word "all-nighter".

What's another expression with the word "all"?

I like this one a lot, too: "all talk".

So, "all talk" is an adjective, and it means when we talk about doing something, but we

never do it.

Okay?

So, I have some friends who are all talk.

That means that they always talk about doing something, but they never have done it or

they never will.

So, for example, I have one friend named Chris, and Chris has a boss who he just hates.

His boss is a terrible boss, and he's been working at the same company for three years,

and his boss and him get into arguments all the time.

Now, what Chris says every time I see Chris is Chris says: "You know, I almost punched

my boss today.

I was so angry with my boss, I almost punched him today", which is not a good thing to do

to anybody, but, you know, also not a good thing to do to your boss.

So, what I say to Chris is: "Chris, you are all talk.

You will never punch your boss", and that's a good thing.

But "all talk" - Chris always says he's going to punch his boss, but he never actually does.

Maybe you have a friend like this.

I have another friend who says that, you know, she's going to quit her job.

She hates her job and she's always saying: "You know, I'm going to quit my job.

I'm going to quit my job."

But she hasn't for a very long time, so you might say: "You're all talk."

Okay?

Meaning: You're not going to do it.

Another expression we have here is: "all for it".

"All for it" means when you strongly agree with a decision or an action.

So, for example, I just told you about my friend who wants to quit her job - I'm all

for it.

That means I strongly agree with her to quit her job, because she's so unhappy there.

"All for it".

"All for it" is when we strongly agree with an action or a decision.

Imagine you are at your friend's place, and somebody wants to order a pizza.

If you agree with this decision, you can say: "I'm all for it.

I'm all for ordering pizza."

Okay?

Maybe you want to study in Toronto.

Maybe you're learning English, and your dream is to come to Toronto to study English.

I'm from Toronto, so what I would say to that is: "I'm all for it."

That means I agree with your decision.

Okay?

So, these are just some of the ways we can use "all for it".

Let's look at some other examples of expressions with "all" in them.

So, our next expression is kind of interesting because it has the word "all" in it twice.

"All in all".

"All in all".

So, what does "all in all" mean?

Well, we use it to mean everything considered, or it's another way to say: "On the whole".

So, for example, maybe I'm talking about my trip - my trip to France, and I'm saying:

"Oh, the food was great, you know, the people were wonderful, I loved it, but it rained,

you know, so that was kind of disappointing, but everything else was amazing."

When I look at the trip completely, what I can say when I consider everything, I can

say: "All in all, we had an amazing time in France".

"All in all" - when you consider everything.

"All in all, you know, there's some things I like about English, maybe some things like

certain types of grammar are annoying; but all in all, English is a really cool language."

Maybe you agree, maybe you disagree - that's okay.

All in all; when everything is considered.

The next expression: "all the way".

"All the way" has two different meanings.

So, the first one I want to teach you means completely; doing something completely.

So, for example, if you say to somebody: "I support you all the way", "all the way" means

100%.

It means: I support you completely.

I agree with you all the way.

I agree with you 100%.

Okay?

So, "all the way" means completely.

Now, it also has a sexual meaning.

So, what is the sexual meaning?

Well, especially in movies...

Movies, you might hear somebody talking about "all the way", and this can be another way

to say sex.

So, for example: "They went all the way."

Another way to say: "They had sex."

So, be careful when you use this expression, because it does have the two meanings.

Okay, the next expression: "know-it-all"...

I really like this expression.

We use it when we're talking about somebody, so we use "know-it-all" to describe a person,

and it's a specific type of person.

A know-it-all is a person who acts like an expert.

They act as if they have a lot of information on something, and usually they don't have

that information.

So, they act like they know everything.

Maybe you have a friend that reminds you of Wikipedia; they seem to know everything on

any topic.

If you bring up your work, they can tell you all about your job.

You talk about English, they know everything about English.

They seem like they're experts on everything, and sometimes they're not, but we call that

person a "know-it-all".

And it's not a nice expression.

Okay?

So it's...

It's...

It's an insult.

So, if somebody calls you a know-it-all, you know, it's not a nice thing to be called.

A lot of the times when kids are in school and you have one kid that always has their

hand up, answering every question, the other kids might say: "He is a know-it-all."

Okay?

Because he's answering every question.

So, again, it's a negative expression.

"David is such a know-it-all."

And you'll notice, because "know-it-all" is describing a person, it's actually a noun,

we use an article "a".

"I am a know-it-all."

Okay?

Now let's look at some other expressions with the word "all".

Okay, so our next expression is a longer expression, and the expression is: "For all I know".

"For all I know".

So, how do we use this expression and what does it mean?

Well, we use this expression when we don't really know something.

Okay?

So we don't know all the details; we have limited information.

We don't really know.

So, for example, if you go to a bar and you see a man wearing a wedding...

Or a ring.

You might say: "He wears a ring.

He's married for all I know."

It means you don't actually know; you have limited information, but it's possible.

Okay?

So, you don't know, but this might be your guess.

Maybe you come home one day, and you notice that you were saving yourself a piece of cake

and it's gone.

You might think: "Oh.

Where did it go?"

Well, you have limited information, so you might say to yourself: "For all I know, you

know, there's a rat in the house."

That's probably a terrible example, actually.

"For all I know, my brother came and visited, and ate my cake."

So, it's where you have limited information and you don't really know.

Now, this is a little different from our next expression, which is: "For all I care".

"For all I care" is different from "For all I know".

So, the last word changes.

"For all I care" is when you're not worried about something.

Okay?

So, you're not worried; you don't care or you're indifferent.

This expression is often used in fights or in arguments.

So, what does it mean?

It means you don't care.

So, for example, you know, sometimes you might have a couple fighting and maybe somebody

in the couple is angry because the other person goes out partying every night.

One person might say: "You can stay out until 2am for all I care."

Meaning: "I don't care if you stay out late."

But depending on the tone, maybe this person does care.

Okay?

So, it really depends on how you say this expression.

"For all I care, you can, you know...

You can...

You can come late for all I care", means: "I don't really care."

Okay?

So, it...

It means you don't care.

Let's look at another expression.

"Not all there".

So, we use "not all there" when we're talking about somebody who is not fully alert who,

you know, is not really functioning.

We can also use it sometimes to mean somebody is crazy.

So, there's different ways to use "not all there".

So, for example, I can say: "Mr. J is not all there.

He dresses his cat up in women's clothes."

Okay?

So: "Mr. J is not all there."

This means: "I think he's crazy."

Or maybe you might have a family member who isn't really alert, so you might say: "Oh,

you know, my grandfather, he's not all there."

So there's different ways to use this expression; "not all there".

Let's look at a couple other expressions.

So, our next expression is: "all along".

This expression means since the beginning or the whole time.

So, often when people talk about love, they talk about all long.

So, for example: "Zark loved Lucy all along."

This means for the whole time or since the beginning.

Okay?

So very romantic.

You can use the expression for other things, too, that aren't about romance, so for example,

you know: "I knew it all along."

We often say that when we have a suspicion or we think something's true and then we find

out it is, we can say: "I knew it all along."

Okay?

So, again, it means the whole time or since the beginning.

"I knew it since the beginning; I knew it all along."

Okay, so what's another expression with "all"?

"Once and for all".

"Once and for all", what does it mean?

It means for the last time.

Okay?

So this has a very strong sense of finale; it's for the last time.

So, I watched Usain Bolt run on TV, and it was his last race.

And Usain Bolt wanted to prove he was the fastest runner once and for all.

This means that he wants to do it for the last time.

He doesn't want to run anymore in these races; he wants to show this for the last time.

Okay?

So: "Once and for all; for the last time".

Sometimes people have problems in their lives, and they want the problem to be resolved or

to end, so: "I will deal with this problem for the last time; for once and for all".

Okay?

So, for the last time.

Our final expression is: "all over".

"All over" has different meanings.

One of the meanings is we say "all over" to mean when something is done and there is no

other possible outcome or...

Or no other way this could have ended.

So, for example: "It's all over", means: "It's done.

It's finished."

Sometimes it can be in a bit of a negative way.

"School's all over.

I never have to go back again.

It's all over.

It's finished.

It's done."

You know: "The test - it's all over."

Okay?

It's finished; it's done.

And a lot of the times it can be there was no other possible way.

So, you know, imagine if somebody fails their test - they might put their hands on their

heads and say: "Oh my god, it's all over", meaning: "Ugh!

I didn't do well.

There's no other outcome."

Okay?

So it has that sense of finale.

We can also use "all over" to talk about when things or objects are in many different places.

So, if you go to somebody's house and their house is messy - you might see clothes all

over the floor.

Okay?

"Her clothes were all over the floor."

This means they were in many different places.

Okay?

There is...

You know, maybe if you go camping, you see a lot of bugs: "There are bugs all over.

All over the place."

It means that they're in a lot of different places.

So, we use "all over" for different meanings; these are just two of the ones that you've

learned today.

So, we've covered a lot.

A lot of expressions today.

You should feel very proud of yourself for learning all these new expressions.

Now, what I want you to do is visit our website at www.engvid.com, and there you can actually

do a quiz to practice everything you learned today.

This will help you to remember these new terms and new expressions.

I also invite you to come visit our...

Or to come subscribe to my YouTube channel, because there you can actually find a lot

of different resources and videos on so many different things, including pronunciation,

writing, listening, vocabulary, grammar, and much more.

So thank you so much for watching, and until next time, take care.