All, each, every, both, neither, either, some, any, no, none

46 all, each, every, everyone, everybody, everything (for all and each, see also 48)

A all compared to every

Technically, all means a number of people or things considered as a group while every means a number of people or things considered individually. But in practice every and its compounds are often used when we are thinking of a group.

B each (adjective and pronoun) and every (adjective)

each means a number of persons or things considered individually.

every can have this meaning but with every there is less emphasis on

the individual.

Every man had a weapon means 'All the men had weapons', and implies

that the speaker counted the men and the weapons and found that he

had the same number of each. Each man had a weapon implies that the

speaker went to each man in turn and checked that he had a weapon.

each is a pronoun and adjective: Each (man) knows what to do.

every is an adjective only: Every man knows...

each can be used of two or more persons or things, and is normally

used of small numbers, every is not normally used of very small

numbers.

Both take a singular verb. The possessive adjective is his/her/its.

(For the reciprocal pronoun each other, see 53 C, 70 B.)

C everyone/everybody and everything (pronouns)

everyone/everybody + singular verb is normally preferred to all (the) people + plural verb, i.e. we say Everyone is ready instead of All the people are ready. There is no difference between everyone and everybody.

everything is similarly preferred to all (the) things, i.e. we say Everything has been wasted instead of All the things have been wasted. The expressions all (the) people, all (the) things are possible when followed by a phrase or clause:

All the people in the room clapped.

I got all the things you asked for. Otherwise they are rarely used.

(For pronouns and possessive adjectives with everyone/everybody, see 51 C, 69.)

Both

both means 'one and the other'. It takes a plural verb. both can be used alone or followed by a noun:

Both (doors) were open or by (of) + the/these/those or possessives:

both (of) the wheels both (of) your wheels or by of + us/you/them:

Both of us knew him. A personal pronoun + both is also possible:

We both knew him. (See 48.)

both... and.,.. can be used to emphasize a combination of two adjectives, nouns, verbs etc.:

It was both cold and wet.

He is both an actor and a director.

He both acts and directs.

48 all/both/each + of and alternative constructions

A all (pronoun) can be followed by of + the/this/these/that/those/

possessives and proper nouns.

both (pronoun) + of can be used similarly but with plural forms only.

The of here is often omitted especially with all + a singular

noun/pronoun.

all the town all (of) Tom's boys

all his life both (of) the towns

all (of) these both (of) his parents

B With all/both + of + personal pronoun the of cannot be omitted:

all of it both of them But there is an alternative construction, personal pronoun + all/both:

all of it is replaceable by it all.

all of us = we all (subject), us all (object).

all of you is replaceable by you all.

all of them = they all (subject), them all (object). Similarly:

both of us = we both or us both

both of you = you both

both of them = they both or them both

All of them were broken = They were all broken.

All/Both of us went = We all/both went.

We ate all/both the cakes.

We ate all/both of them.

We ate them all/both.

C When one of these pronoun + all/both combinations is the subject of a compound tense the auxiliary verb usually precedes all/both: We are all waiting. You must both help me.

be is also placed before all/both except when it is used in short answers etc.:

We are all/both ready but

Who is ready? ~ We all are/We both are.

Other auxiliaries used alone and simple tenses of ordinary verbs follow all/both:

You all have maps. They both knew where to go.

D each, like both, can be followed by of + these/those etc. (plural forms only). The of here cannot be omitted:

each of the boys each of these each of us/you/them can, however, be replaced by pronoun + each:

each of you = you each

each of us = we each (subject), us each (indirect object)

each of them = they each (subject), them each (indirect object)

We each sent in a report.

They gave us each a form to fill in. Note that each of us/you/them is singular:

Each of us has a map. But we/you/they each is plural:

We each have a map.

Verbs used with we/you/they each follow the patterns given in C above for all and both:

They have each been questioned.