Do you know the difference between All vs. Every! Among the many confusing pair of words, a few of them can come across as really confusing. I can bet most people are quite confused about when to use “All” and when to use “every”.
All vs. Every: Definition, Meaning
This is what this post is all about. Here, I will be demonstrating the difference and give you some examples as well.
So, let’s get started.
| All | Every |
| All indicate the complete group | Every refers to every single member of a complete group |
| E.g., All must form a line | E.g., Every soldier must report to me tomorrow. |
The first thing you must know about them is that both of them are determiners.
Usually, we use both of these words to refer the total number of something. Now, the word All indicates the complete group while the word Every refers to every single member of a complete group:
- The invitations were sent to all employees.
- The invitations were sent to every employee.
All vs. Every Difference
Let’s Compare the Two:
- All passengers must hand- in their immigrant forms.
This Refers to the Whole Group
- Every passenger must hand-in their immigrant the forms.
This Indicates Each Individual Member of the Whole Group
All vs. Every Rules
All And Every + Nouns
Although the meaning of these two words are quite same but they are used very differently. The word “All” is used with plural and uncountable nouns and every with singular nouns:
- All proceedings will be sent to the hurricane relief fund.
- All equipment must be thoroughly checked before returning.
- Every donation is very well received.
You can use all and all of before the determiners, but never Every
- He had invited all (of) his friends.
All Day, Every Day:
When we use all day, all week, all month, we try to mean ‘one entire day/week/month’:
They had spent all day at the beach waiting for the man to come.
But when we use Every day (week/month) we try to focus on each individual day (week/month):
- He had spent every day at the beach during his holidays.
Not: He had spent all days at the beach
- Nowadays, fuel prices are rising every week.
Not: Fuel prices are rising all weeks.
All or Every: Typical Errors
We can never use every before determiners:
- They had sold all the cars.
Not: … Every his books.
You can never use every with uncountable nouns:
- Collect all the information and save them in computer memory.
Not: Every information can be saved…
You can never use every with plural nouns:
- The institute must organize a trip for all students.
Not: … for every students
One can never use every on its own without a noun. This is why you must implement phrases like use everyone, everybody or everything instead:
- He wanted to cancel the trip and everyone revolted.
Not: … every agreed
Some Questions and Answers All vs. Every
They wanted (all/every) the players to join them.
-> They wanted all the players to join them.
He wanted to (all/every) the marshmallows to himself.
-> He wanted all the marshmallows to himself.
(all/every) player must be careful out there.
-> Every player must be careful out there.
They wanted to gather (all/every) the information.
-> They wanted to gather all the information.
(all/every) man must follow his dreams.
-> Every man must follow his dreams.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. The difference between “all” and “every”. Let us know if you have any other queries.
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