Distributors: All, both, either, neither, each, every
Of the distributive determinatives, all refers to a totality; it can be used with mass nouns (all power corrupts), plural nouns in a generic sense (all men are mortal) and certain temporal and locative nouns (all day, all night, all America). When the reference is not generic, all is optionally followed by of + noun (all the pie/all of the pie; all the pages/all of the pages).
Both refers to two entities together. Either and the negative form neither refer to two entities as alternatives. Each and every refer to one of a group or series, but while each emphasizes the separateness of the entity, every makes collective reference to a group of three or more (every child, every day). Each can refer to two entities individually (each hand, each foot); every can individualize by using the pronoun one, particularized optionally by ‘single’ (every single one + of + noun) (partitive). In this way, every is able to express partitive reference (every single one of my friends) which otherwise would not be possible, since *every of is ungrammatical Both, either, neither and each (but not every) can be followed immediately by of before the noun (the partitive use). Here are some examples of the distributive determinatives:
All birds have feathers, but not all birds can fly. (generic)
All of the bedrooms have a balcony and telephone, and some take a third and fourth bed. [AMD]
Keep hold of the wheel with both hands.
Both children/both the children/both of the children had measles at the same time.
He can write with either hand/with either of his hands.
Neither twin/neither of the twins is very good at maths.
Each player/Each of the players was given a premium.
This applies to each of us – men as well as women. [AT9]
Two out of every five people catch more than one cold a year.
Every known criminal of New York was there. [ATE]
Every single one of their songs was a success.
All, both and each following pronouns
These distributors can follow pronouns, whether subjective or objective, for emphasis:
They all/both/each carried backpacks.
We’ve bought them all/both bicycles. We’ve bought them each a bicycle.
All of them have bicycles. Both of them have bicycles. Each of them has a bicycle.
All, everything, everyone/everybody
In formal styles all is marginally used as an alternative to everything to refer to a situation, ideas, objects, actions in general terms.
All went well. Everything went well.
All is ready. Everything is ready.
All is much less common than everything and everyone however. Furthermore, it cannot stand alone (as an elliptical head) in Object and Complement functions, where it can be used with a pronoun. Compare:
*I liked all. I liked everything. I liked it all.
All people is more common when modified by a relative clause:
All people who need special medical care must go to a hospital.
Everyone and everybody refer to all the people in a particular group. The notion of generality can be extended to wider groups and even everyone everywhere:
Everyone enjoyed the show.
He poured drinks for everybody.
Everyone condemned the terrorist attack.
Everyone has their own opinion.
All is not normally used in this way, without a head or modifier. Compare:
*All enjoyed the show. All those present enjoyed the show.
*He poured drinks for all. He poured drinks for all present/for us all/for them all
All people is not always an acceptable alternative to everyone/everybody. All the people there would refer to definite people on a specific occasion, rather than the more general meaning of totality expressed by everyone.
The following horoscope illustrates some of these quantifiers:
Libra (Sept 24– Oct 23)
None of it matters quite as much as we think. All of it is a journey, a dream. Of course, it seems real. Dreams always do while we are dreaming them. This does not make life any the less precious. To the contrary. We should treasure every moment because we never know how many more moments we will have left. Yet sometimes, we cannot properly treasure each moment because we are too worried about making the most of our every moment. This weekend brings magic. Enjoy it.
