15 Determiners - All vs Whole

Determiners are modifiers of nouns. They can provide a wide range of information. Determiner words are put before a noun to show what the noun refers to.

We use both Whole and All to refer complete, entire things. They have similar meanings but they are used in different ways.

Whole: It is used to describe the completeness of something.
All: It is used to refer to every member or individual.

You can see how Whole and All can be used below:

Whole & All:

• Whole/all + singular nouns;
• Whole/all + plural nouns.

All:

• All + uncountable nouns;
• All + possessive adjectives;
• All + definite article(the).

Whole:

• Possessive adjectives + whole;
• Definite article(the) + whole.

Difference between All and Whole:

• We use All with uncountable nouns, Whole can’t be with them;
• We use possessive adjectives after All and before Whole in a sentence;
• We use definite article (the) after All and before Whole in a sentence.

• Whole shareholders are terrified because of the financial crisis.
• All my savings is in the bank.
• General manager called all the assistants to inform them about hiring someone new.
• All the workers wants to be promoted to unit manager.
• The whole crowd is here to get payment from the factory.

• When Whole and All are used with singular nouns they refer to complete, entire things;
• When we use Whole and All with plural nouns they have different meanings. Using all with plural nouns gives the meaning every, every of. Using whole with plural nouns gives the meaning complete.