Nouns, articles & quantity · CEFR B1 · Independent
all / both — English nouns and articles
Both is exactly two; all is any number above that. Neither takes "the" straight after it unless "of" comes in between.
The shape
all (of) + plural · both (of) + two things
Include everything, or exactly two things.
In Hindi
both ठीक दो के लिए, all उससे ज़्यादा के लिए। बीच में "of" न हो तो "the" नहीं आता।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
All the my friends came. | All my friends came. You cannot have "the" and "my" together — drop the "the". |
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- each / everyA2Talk about all of them, one at a time
- some of the / most of myB1Talk about part of a group you have already named
Questions people ask
- What is the all / both used for?
- Both is exactly two; all is any number above that. Neither takes "the" straight after it unless "of" comes in between. In practice: include everything, or exactly two things.
- How do you form the all / both?
- all (of) + plural · both (of) + two things.
- What is the most common mistake with the all / both?
- Saying “All the my friends came.” instead of “All my friends came.”. You cannot have "the" and "my" together — drop the "the".
Where all / both fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
all / both is a CEFR B1 structure — the independent band — and it belongs to nouns, articles & quantity. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
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