What does “all” mean?
- 1
determinerthe whole number or amount of something
All the students passed the test.
- 2
pronouneveryone or everything
I ate it all.
- 3
adverbcompletely
She was all alone in the house.
All at a glance
- Part of speech
- determiner, pronoun & adverb
- CEFR level
- A1 (beginner)
- Pronunciation
- /ɔl/ · AWL
How to use “all” correctly
Say “all day” (not “all the day” in most cases) and “all of them” before a pronoun. “Not at all” makes a negative stronger.
Common phrases with “all”
- all day
- all of us
- at all
- all right
Idioms with “all”
- Pull out all the stops: Make the greatest possible effort to achieve something.
- All ears: Ready and eager to listen carefully.
- It's all Greek to me: Said when something is impossible for you to understand.
- Don't put all your eggs in one basket: Don't depend on one plan or thing, in case it fails.
“all” is on these word lists
Learn these words next
- any determinerA1some; used in questions and negative sentences
- both determinerA1the two people or things together
- enough determinerA1as much or as many as you need
- every determinerA1all the people or things in a group, considered one by one
- few determinerA1a small number of; some
- many determinerA1a large number of
- more determinerA1a larger number or amount of something
- much determinerA1a large amount of something, used with uncountable nouns