Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997
65 All/everything, everybody/everyone All/every/each Whole
Quick reference
• Everything (= all the things) + a singular verb. Everything costs a lot. Everybody/everyone (= all the people) + a singular verb. Everybody has left. They/them/their are used after everybody/everyone. Everyone’s cold. They’re freezing.
• All + relative clause. All = the only thing. All (that) he told me was his name.
All + relative clause./// = everything. We’ve done all (that) we can.
All + plural noun. All the tickets are sold.
All (not Every) + uncountable noun. All the furniture is new.
• Every (or Each) + a singular noun. Every (or Each) room has a TV ( = all the rooms) Each. Each room has its own toilet. (= the rooms seen separately)
Each of the rooms is different. (not Every of the rooms.)
• Whole + a singular countable noun. They stayed the whole weekend. (= all the weekend) The whole of+ noun. I slept the whole of the time. (= the whole time)
The whole of + a place name. The whole of England is cold, (not The whole England)
• All + a preposition (about, along, over, round). They come from all over the world.
All (not the whole) + an uncountable noun. They drank all the wine.
• He came every day. (= how often)
She phoned him every two hours. (= how often)
We stayed all day/all morning, etc. (= how long)
1 Read the newspaper story below and think of one word (everyone, everything, all) which best fits each space.
Example: Burglar Wayne Plummer thought that everyone in the wealthy Horfield area of Bristol must have something worth stealing.
In Westbury Avenue (1) ... had a burglar alarm - except for one house. (2) ... the lights were off in that house. It looked as though (3) ... was out. Wayne looked up and
down the road. (4) ... was quiet. (5) ... was probably watching TV. He broke a window at the back of the house. He guessed that (6) ... valuable like jewellery would be upstairs. He opened all the drawers. But then he heard a car stopping outside. He watched as (7) ... in the car got out. He put (8) ... he could into his pockets. Then, just as they came in the front door, he escaped out of the back door. He climbed over a fence but then came to a three-metre high wall. (9) ... he could do was climb it and jump down the other side. Unfortunately he broke both his ankles. When he looked around he thought (10) ... looked familiar. He then realised he had jumped down into Bristol Prison. When prison guards arrested him (11) ... he could say was, ’(12) ... has a bit of bad luck sometimes, but why’s it always me?’
2 George Kelly has no home and lives on the streets. Choose the right form of the verb.
I don’t eat properly because everything (1 is/are) ... so expensive nowadays, or at least everything (2 cost/costs) ... too much for me to buy. I went into hospital last week.
Everybody (3 was/were) ... very kind at first. But everything (4 was/were) ... different when they found there was nothing wrong with me. Everyone (5 has/have) ... friends - except me. Everybody just (6 ignore/ignores) ... me.
3 Complete this description of a typical suburban British street using all, every or each. Sometimes more than one answer is possible.
(1) ... the houses in Mayfield Close look the same, except that (2) ... house has a different number on the front door. (3) ... morning, at about 8 o’clock, (4)....................... ... of these front doors opens and the man or woman of the house goes off to work. This is true on (5) ... weekday morning but not at weekends. (6) ... the families in the road have a car and on Saturdays (7) ... car has to be washed and polished. (8) ... house in the road has a garden and on Sundays (9) ... the grass has to be cut. In fact (10) ... the people living in Mayfield Close do (11) ... they can to be the same as their neighbours.
4 This is part of a letter sent by a girl on holiday on the island of Kos. Complete the sentences, using the whole, a whole or all.
We spent (1) ... of the first week by the pool. Alex was in the water (2) ... the time. I spent (3) ... day reading. My book had over a thousand pages. I read (4) ... book in less than three days!
We go out every evening. We usually spend (5) ... evening choosing a restaurant and then eating dinner. Dinner usually includes drinking (6) ... bottle of wine! As a result we’ve spent almost (7) ... the money we brought with us already.
We’ve walked (8) ... round the old city three times and we’ve driven (9) ... over the island. In fact, we’ve seen (10) ... of Kos now. (It isn’t very big!)
(11) ... the people in the hotel are English and (12) ... the waiters speak English so (13) ... the Greek I learnt before we came was a bit of a waste of time.
5 Choose the correct alternative.
We’ve been having problems with our neighbours (1 all/every) ... year.
(2 All/Every) ... night it’s the same - they have a party. And the party goes on (3 all/every) ... night. After about 5 a.m. they just sleep (4 all/every) ... the time and they keep their curtains drawn (5 all/every) ... day and we never see them. (6 Every/All) ... week we complain but it never does any good.
6 Describe the people who live near you, using these words.
Everybody ... Every ... Everyone ... Each ... Everything ... All ... The whole ...
Example: Everybody knows their neighbour.
Check your text with a teacher.