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all, everybody/everyone and everything

all and everybody/everyone​

We do not normally use all without a noun phrase to mean ‘everybody’. Compare:

  • All the people stood up.
  • Everybody/Everyone stood up. (not ~~All* stood up.~~*)

all and everything​

All (without a noun phrase) can mean ‘everything’, but usually only in the structure all + relative clause (all that …). Compare:

  • All (that) I have is yours. (not ~~All what* I have …)
    Everything is yours. (not ~~All     is yours.    *)
  • She lost all (that) she owned.
    She lost everything. (not She lost all.)

This structure often has a rather negative meaning, expressing ideas like ‘nothing more’ or ‘the only thing(s)’.

  • This is all I’ve got.
  • All I want is a place to sit down.
  • All that happened was that he went to sleep.

Note also That’s all (= It’s finished; There’s no more).

Older English​

In older English, all could be used alone to mean ‘everybody’ or ‘everything’ (e.g. Tell me all; All is lost; All are dead). This only happens regularly in modern English in dramatic contexts like newspaper headlines (e.g. SPY TELLS ALL).