All means ‘every one’, ‘the complete number or amount’ or ‘the whole’. We use it most often as a determiner. We can use a countable noun or an uncountable noun after it: … When all refers to a whole class of people or things, we don’t use the: … So what's the difference? First you need to understand the difference between all and all the. We use all (without an article) when we're talking about the noun in general. ALL definition: the whole of (used in referring to quantity, extent, or duration). See examples of all used in a sentence. You use all to refer to the whole of a particular period of time. George had to cut grass all afternoon. The bare form all is used with articles and pronouns, which it precedes (as in English). For instance: all die Sachen (“all the things”); all dies [es] Gerede (“all this chitchat”); all [e] meine Freunde (“all my friends”) (more common with the e). n. The whole of one's fortune, resources, or energy; everything one has: The brave defenders gave their all. The meaning of ALL is the whole amount, quantity, or extent of. How to use all in a sentence. Synonym Discussion of All. Evidence for the role of the environment is seen in childhood ALL among twins, where only 10–15% of both genetically identical twins get ALL. Since they have the same genes, different environmental exposures explain why one twin gets ALL, and the other does not. The overall five-year survival rate for ALL is 72%. That means that 72% of children and adults diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia will still be alive five years later. When 'all' is a pronoun, it can come with both singular and plural nouns. When 'all' refers to a group of people/things as a unified whole, it comes with a singular verb, but when 'all' refers to multiple groups of items, objects, people, etc. it must be accompanied by a plural verb.