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

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

A all compared to every

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

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

eachmeans a number of persons or things considered individually.

everycan have this meaning but with everythere 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.

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

everyis an adjective only: Every man knows . . .

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

used of small numbers, everyis 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, 70B.)

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.

everythingis 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) thingsare 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

bothmeans 'one and the other'. It takes a plural verb. bothcan be used alone or followed by a noun:

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

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

Both of us knew him. A personal pronoun + bothis 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+ ofand 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/bothcombinations is the subject of a compound tense the auxiliary verb usually precedes all/both:We are all waiting. You must both help me.

beis also placed before all/bothexcept 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/thoseetc. (plural forms only). The of here cannot be omitted:

each of the boys each of these each of us/you/themcan, 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/themis singular:

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

We each have a map.

Verbs used with we/you/they eachfollow the patterns given in C above for alland both:

They have each been questioned.

Neither, either

A 1 neithermeans 'not one and not the other'. It takes an affirmative

singular verb. It can be used by itself or followed by a noun or by of + the/these/those/possessives or personal pronouns:

(a) / tried both keys but neither (of them) worked.

(b) Neither of them knew the way/Neither boy knew . . .

(c) I've read neither of these (books).

2 eithermeans 'any one of two'. It takes a singular verb and, like neither,can be used by itself or followed by a noun/pronoun or by of+ the/these/those etc.

3 either+ negative verb can replace neither+ affirmative except when neitheris the subject of a verb. So eithercould not be used in (a) or (b) above but could in (c):

/ haven't read either of these (books).

Though eithercannot be the subject of a negative verb, it can be subject or object of an affirmative or interrogative verb:

Either (of these) would do.

Would you like either of these?

4 Pronouns and possessive adjectives with neither/eitherused of people should technically be he/him, she/her and his/her,but in

colloquial English the plural forms are generally used: Neither of them knows the way, do they? Neither of them had brought their passports.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1618