Skip to main content

All or whole?

All and whole are determiners.

We use them before nouns and with other determiners to refer to a total number or complete set of things in a group.

Compare

All the cast had food poisoning. They were forced to cancel the show.all + determiner + noun
The whole cast had food poisoning. They were forced to cancel the show.determiner + whole + noun
  • All my family lives abroad. or My whole family lives abroad.

We often use all and the whole with of the:

  • She complains all of the time. or She complains the whole of the time.

We use a/an with whole but not with all:

  • I spent a whole day looking for that book and eventually found it in a little old bookshop on the edge of town.
  • Not: … all a day …

All or whole for single entities​

We use the whole or the whole of to refer to complete single things and events that are countable and defined:

  • The whole performance was disappointing from start to finish. (or The whole of the performance was disappointing …)

When we can split up a thing into parts, we can use either whole or all with the same meaning:

  • You don’t have to pay the whole (of the) bill at once.
  • You don’t have to pay all (of) the bill at once.
  • She ate the whole orange.
  • She ate all of the orange.

We often use the whole of with periods of time to emphasise duration:

  • We spent the whole (of the) summer at the beach.

All the with uncountable nouns​

We use all the and not the whole with uncountable nouns:

  • She was given all the advice she needed.
  • Not: She was given the whole advice …
  • All the equipment is supplied.

All and whole with plural nouns​

We usually use all the and all of the with plural nouns:

  • It’s funny when all the actors come in dressed up in their costumes.
  • She opens all the cupboard doors and doesn’t close them after her.
  • You have to try all of the activities.

When we use whole with plural nouns, it means ‘complete’ or ‘entire’.

Compare

Whole families normally shared one room in the nineteenth century.entire families
All families normally shared one bedroom in the nineteenth century.each and every family

All and whole: typical errors​

We don’t use all before a and an:

  • She ate a whole bar of chocolate in one go.
  • Not: She ate all a bar …

We can’t omit the before whole with a singular noun:

  • We travelled throughout the whole country.
  • Not: … throughout whole country.