What's the Difference Between "All" and "Whole"?

In the Hebrew language the same word is used for "all" and "whole". I only know this because I was asked about the difference between the two words by an Israeli recently. I responded by turning to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan. This is what I found:

2. word order
All (of) and whole can both be used with singular nouns to mean 'complete', 'every part of'. The word order is different.

determiner + whole + noun
all (of) + determiner + noun

• Julie spent the whole week at home.
• Julie spent all (of) the week at home

• my whole life
• all of my life

3. indefinite reference

All is not generally used before indefinite articles.

She's eaten a whole loaf. (NOT ... all a loaf.)

4. uncountable nouns

With most uncountable nouns we prefer all (of)

• I've drunk all (of) the milk. (NOT ... the whole milk.)

5. the whole of

Instead of whole we can generally use the whole of.

Before proper nouns (names) and pronouns we always use the whole of, not whole. all (of) is also possible.

• The whole of/All of Venice was under water.
• Ive just read the whole of/all of 'War and Peace'.

6. plural nouns

With plural nouns, all and whole have different meanings. All is like every; whole means 'complete', 'entire'. Compare:

• All Indian tribes suffered from white settlement in America. (= Every Indian tribe suffered...)
• Whole Indian tribes were killed off. (= Complete tribes were killed off; nobody was left alive in those tribes.)

Practical English Usage is a dictionary of common English language problems for English language learners and teachers. It has been the first choice of students and teachers for over 20 years.

David Hurley
http://succeed-in-english.com