Hi again. Adam here. www.engvid.com. I have another lesson for you today. This is actually
a request by Feresque -- Feresser? I hope I'm saying it right. Sorry about that. It
was in the comments section of www.engvid.com. Please leave questions and comments and requests
and we'll do our best to get them for you. So the request was: the difference between
"all" and "whole". Now, the reason I also chose this lesson is because this is a very
common mistake that students make. They mix these two up all the time. They have very
specific roles in situations. We're going to look at them today.
The first and most important thing to remember about "all" versus "whole" is where to put
the definite article "the". So it's always "all the" whatever you're talking about, "the
whole" whatever you're talking about, so always "the" after "all", "the" before "whole". Now,
they sound a little bit similar, "all", "whole", but not. Right? So be careful about pronunciation.
Sometimes people might think you're mixing them up just because of pronunciation: "all",
"whole". Make sure you get that "H" sound and that "O" sound together.
Now, what's the difference between "all" and "whole"? "All", you're talking about "everything".
Whatever it is you're talking about, you're talking about all of it, basically: everything,
one, etc. When you're talking about "whole", you're talking about a "complete" something:
a complete package, a complete group, a complete container of something, right? Whatever it
is you're talking about, it has to be complete, right? It has pieces inside, and then the
whole is the complete collection of whatever it is you're talking about, whereas "all"
is just everything that's involved with that noun, etc. So I'm going to give you a very
quick example: You're sitting -- your friend went on a trip out of town. He had to take
the bus for two hours to his friend's house in Montreal, let's say. He comes back. You
ask him "How was the trip?", and he goes, "Oh, my God, there was a baby on the bus,
and the baby cried all the time." But if he said, "The baby cried the whole time", do
you think that it's a different meaning? Usually people will understand the same thing, but
technically, "all the time" doesn't mean two hours crying. It means "cried, stopped, cried,
stopped, cried, stopped." It seemed like he was crying throughout the trip, okay? But
if somebody said, "The baby cried the whole time", I understand "two hours, baby crying,
wah, wah, wah, two hours." It could drive a person crazy. "All the time" -- he cried
enough times that it seemed like a long time. "The whole time" means for two hours straight,
non-stop. Okay. So that's a big difference between "all" and "whole", okay? "The whole
time", I'm talking about the specific duration, the complete journey, two hours. "All the
time" - always: always crying, stopping. Always crying, stopping, crying, stopping, crying,
stopping. Not very much fun. But, "I studied all day" -- I have a test tomorrow; I studied
all day. "I studied the whole day." In this case, I would understand the exact same thing
as well. You can switch these two. But "all day" means, "I studied. I took a break. I
studied. I didn't do anything else -- only studied today." But "I studied the whole day"
means "I sat at my desk, and I studied; I didn't stop." So that's one of the big differences
between "all" and "whole". "Whole" we're talking about time, non-stop, continuous. "All" means
in that day, many times, and that's basically -- you did -- that's the one activity that
you did, okay? So this is one aspect of "all" and "whole". "The" and duration, like, "always"
and the "complete" time of whatever it is you're talking about. We're going to look
at a couple of other differences that are very important that you need to keep in mind.
Okay, so now we're going to look at a few other differences that are sometimes very
small but important. So let's look at the two examples here first: "All my friends came."
"My whole group of friends came." What do you notice first about the differences between
these two? One, the possessive adjective -- my, his, your, etc. -- with "all" comes after
"all" -- comes before "whole": "My whole group of friends came." So I can say "all my friends",
all individual friends, right? But remember what I said about "whole". "Whole" means something
complete, a complete package of something. So I have "group of friends" came. The meaning
is more or less the same, okay? But here I talk about the group; here I talk about the
individuals. Very important to remember. But most important -- possessive, after "all",
before "whole", okay? That's one. Let's look at another thing. Sometimes you
can interchange the two words. The sentence looks exactly the same, but the meaning is
very different, okay? "All cities were destroyed." So let's say for example there was an earthquake
or a volcano eruption in Hawaii, okay? In Hawaii there's -- there are many cities. Volcano
erupted; lava flowed; earth shook; etc. "All cities were destroyed." But if I say, "Whole
cities were destroyed", the meaning is very different. Here, "All cities were destroyed"
means no more cities. Every city -- destroyed. But if I say "whole cities", it means some
cities were completely destroyed, okay? I put marker on myself, sorry. "Whole cities
destroyed" means "one city, completely destroyed, but there are other cities that are okay."
This one -- no more cities; all flat, all covered in lava. Okay, so that's one other
thing. With "all", when you're talking about non-countable
nouns -- money, water, air, sugar, milk, non-countable nouns -- you're usually going to use "all".
You're not going to say "whole the money" because it doesn't make any sense because
it's not a complete thing. It's a singular, non-countable. "All the money was stolen.
All the water was drunk", or spilled or whatever the thing is. And you're not going -- and
you're usually going to use "whole" with a singular, countable noun. You prefer to use
"whole" than "all" but it depends on the situation. Now, some people are going to ask me in the
comments section -- but now they won't because I'll give you the answer right now -- why
don't I say "all of my friends"? Why don't I say it? Because I don't need to, okay? This
is an extra word. You don't need to use it. The only time you need to use "all of" is
with an object pronoun -- all of them, all of it, all of us, all of whom -- with a clause,
etc. Otherwise, you just don't need "of". It's a useless word. It doesn't help. It doesn't
do anything. If I say "the whole of", it's also the exact same. I don't need to use it.
It means "the complete package". So that's another difference.
The last one, and this is very, very important especially for those of you who are going
to be taking tests and grammar is important: "All students need to come to class early
tomorrow." "The whole class needs to come early tomorrow." Can you see the difference?
Main thing to remember: with "all" and plural, you have the matching verb, students "need".
Remember with "whole" you have a complete package, one package. The whole class "needs
to", singular with the "S", plural without the "S", okay?
So now you see all the differences between "all" and "whole", and I know that students
are going to tell me, "I studied the whole time" or "I study all -- whole the time",
that's what I hear often, "I study whole the time, but I don't improve." Now you will improve.
I hope, anyway. Go to www.engvid.com. Take the quiz. Practice a little bit more. If you
have any questions or comments, write them in the comments. Also check out my video on
www.youtube.com. Subscribe to my channel. It would be very nice of you, and I will see
you again very soon. Thanks.