All vs. All Of
All refers to three or more items. It is used mostly before plural and uncountable nouns.
- All children need love.
- I love all music.
- All the invitees turned up.
When all is followed by a plural noun, the verb is normally plural. After an uncountable noun, we use a singular verb.
- All cheese contains fat.
- All the lights were out.
All + noun is not normally used as the subject of a negative verb. We more often use the structure not all + noun + affirmative verb.
- Not all birds can sing. (NOT All birds cannot sing.)
All and All of
Before a noun with no determiner (possessives, articles and demonstratives) we use all.
- All children need love.
- All cheese contains fat.
- All lights were out.
Before a noun with a determiner (the, my, this etc.), all and all of are both possible.
- All the lights were out.
- All of the lights were out.
- I have invited all my friends to my birthday party.
- I have invited all of my friends to my birthday party.
Before a personal pronoun (us, them etc.) we use all of + object form.
- All of us love music. (NOT All us love music)
- I have invited all of them. (NOT I have invited all them.)
All with nouns and pronouns
All can modify nouns and pronouns. We normally place it before the noun/pronoun.
- I have invited all (of) my friends.
- All of us love music.
- I love all of you.
- All of us are going to the movies.
We can put all after pronouns used as objects.
- I love you all. (= I love all of you.)
- Give my love to them all. (= Give my love to all of them.)
- I have made you all something to eat. (= I have made all of you something to eat.)
Note that all cannot be put after pronouns used as subject complements.
- Is that all of them? (NOT Is that them all?)
All with verbs
When all refers to the subject of a clause, it can go with the verb. When the verb consists of just one word, and that word is not a form of be (is, am, are, was, were), all is placed before the verb.
- They all came. (All + other verb)
- We all love music. (All + other verb)
When the verb is a form of be, all is placed after it.
- You are all welcome. (be + all)
- We were all invited. (be + all)
When there are two auxiliary verbs, all goes after the first.
- They have all gone home. (Auxiliary verb + all + other verb)
- They have all been told. (Auxiliary verb + all + auxiliary verb + other verb)
Note that these meanings can also be expressed by using all (of) + noun/pronoun.
- All of them came.
- All of us love music.
- All of you are welcome.
- All of us have been invited.
- All of them have gone home.
All vs. All of – Grammar Exercise
Complete the following sentences using all or all of.
1. Your boy has eaten ———————– the cake. (all / all of)
2. ———————– children need love and attention. (All / All of)
3. She has invited ———————– (us all / all of us).
4. ———————— my friends are active on social media. (All / All of)
5. ————————- that I have is yours. (All / All of)
6. ———————— that I want is a place to lie down. (All / All of)
7. ———————— us are going to the party. (All / All of)
8. The cat has drunk ———————- the milk. (all / all of)
9. ————————– my family live in Canada. (All / All of)
Answers
1. Your boy has eaten all / all of the cake.
2. All children need love and attention.
3. She has invited us all / all of us.
4. All / all of my friends are active on social media.
5. All that I have is yours.
6. All that I want is a place to lie down.
7. All of us are going to the party.
8. The cat has drunk all / all of the milk.
9. All / all of my family live in Canada.
