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

Long & Short Sounds: Pronunciation Practice - Part 1

How good is your pronunciation of English? In each of the following sentences the vowels in bold have the same sound. 

Practise reading them out loud:

Long Sounds

• The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
• The leaves of the trees shook in the breeze.
  
• How bright the moonlight shines.
  
• Cold, cold is the stony floor.
  
• The duke duly paid the money due to the Jew before the dew was off the ground on Tuesday.
  
• How far and fast the ship recedes.
  
• Her tall and stalwart pillars falling down.
  
• The noise of many waters and the voice of thunder.
  
• The howl of the wolves as they prowled around.
  
• How cool is this gloomy pool.

Short Sounds

• A glad batch of lads standing with a man at the match.
  
• A red thread well stretched.
  
• I sit and knit, while the birds flit and twit. 
  
• A hot spot on the grass plot.
  
• She took and shook her good book.

David Hurley

Succeed-In-English.com

English Tongue Twister: Betty Botter Bought Some Butter

This English tongue twister tells the story of a woman called Betty Botter who wanted to make some pancake batter.

Eleven of the end words have a letter missing. In each case, is it "a", "e", "i", or "u"?


Betty Botter bought some b-tter,
"But," she said, "the butter's b-tter;
If I put it in my b-tter,
It will make my batter b-tter;
But a bit of better b-tter,
That would make my batter b-tter."
So she bought a bit of b-tter,
Better than her bitter b-tter,
And she put it in her b-tter,
And the batter was not b-tter;
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better b-tter.

===
batter x 2
better x 1
bitter x 3
butter x 5
===

Check here for the correct solution and listen to a recording of the tongue twister!

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

There Was An Old Woman Who Lost Her Whip...

Nursery rhymes are songs and verses for children. If you love playing with words you will enjoy Mother Goose nursery rhymes, but you may also be surprised at how violent some of the rhymes are. For example, this nursery rhyme about an old woman who lived in a shoe ends with a violent whipping: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, She had so many children, she didn't know what to do; She gave them some broth without any bread, She whipped them all soundly, and put them to bed.

Modern editors tend to bowdlerize the nursery rhymes to make them suitable for modern sensibilities. Here, for example, is a modern version:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She kissed them all gently and sent them to bed.

Vocabulary Notes

bowdlerize - to cut rude or unsuitable words from a text. Origin: Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), English editor of an edition of Shakespeare with all the rude words cut out.

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Talking About Rope And String...

I'm still thinking about Spike Milligan. Last week I asked some of my students to complete the poem "String":

String
is a most peculiar thing.
Rope is thicker,
but _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

One student suggested, "string is slicker". Very nice. Perhaps it is even better than the original, "string is quicker".

Let's make some more comparisons of string and rope:

String is quicker than rope, so

Rope is _ l _ _ _ _ than string.

Rope is _ _ _ _k _ _ than string, so

string is _ _ _ _ n _ _ than rope.

Rope is r _ _ g _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ / _ t _ _ _ _, so

String is _ m _ o _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.

_ _ _ _ is _ _ _ _ _ g _ _ than _ _ _ _ _ _, so

_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ ak _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.


===
CONTACT ME
Click here, and fill in the form. Type "'String and Rope' answers please!" into the "Message field" and I'll send you the solution.
===

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Silly Verses for Kids, and English Students!

I was eight years old when I first read Spike Milliagan's "Silly Verses For Kids". It was my friend's copy. We used to read it together during playtime. I liked it so much I asked my parents to buy me a copy of the book, and eventually they did. I still have the book, many years later, in a box somewhere in the attic of my mother's house. Spike Milligan (1918-2002) was an Irish citizen who was one of Britain's best-loved comedians. He made radio and television shows, as well as writing books of verse and his war-time memoirs.

Last week I was about to teach an English class at a community centre in Hiroshima but I had not prepared anything to talk to them about.

Then, on the bus up to the community centre, I remembered Spike Milligan and some of his "silly verses". I immediately decided to teach the class three of the verses that I can still remember.

As it was a rainy day, the first verse I taught them was:

There are holes in the sky
where the rain gets in,
but they are ever so small,
that's why rain is thin.

Do you ever think about string? Funny stuff, isn't it. What is the difference between string and rope? Spike Milligan had the answer, and very philosophical it is too:

String
is a most peculiar thing.
Rope is thicker,
but string is quicker.

Here is my favourite verse by Spike Milligan. It is about a little girl called "Mary Pugh":

Mary Pugh was nearly two
when she went out of doors.
She went out standing up, she did,
and came back on all fours.
The moral of the story, please meditate and pause -
never send a baby out with loosely waisted drawers.

Language Notes for "Mary Pugh"
on all fours = crawl on hands and knees
meditate and pause = stop and think
loosely waisted = not tight around the waist
drawers = underpants

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

End Of Term Scrabble!

On Thursday 20th December 2007 one of my English classes in Hiroshima celebrated the end of the year by playing Scrabble. Scrabble is a popular board game in America, Britain and much of the English-speaking world.

Members of the English Class get stuck into Scrabble - or just get stuck?!

Two to four players score points by making words on a 15-by-15 grid. The words may be connected like a crossword, across and down the board. Each player starts with seven tiles. Each tile has a single letter on it and the players use them to make words on the board.

Players score points according to the value of the letters and where they are placed on the board.

The rules are quick and easy to learn, but learning to play well is more difficult, especially if English is not your first language, as the class members discovered!

A game in progress. Strangely, the board has been set up sideways!

We set up three games and the most experienced student and myself acted as referees while the other class members cheerfully struggled to make English words with their letter tiles and the tiles on the board...

For the first time in the whole of 2007, the whole of the class is deep in concentration!

It was hard work, but cheerfully undertaken! The verdict was that it was quite difficult to make words because you had to think about connections and the position of letters on the board, not just the letters in your hand.

However, if you keep on playing you soon get used to making connections and your vocabulary will also improve from your own efforts and by learning from other players.

You can find out more about how to play Scrabble and the history of the game at these sites:

www.mattelscrabble.com
www.hasbro.com
wikipedia.org

Play Scrabble online!

The online game is called Scrabulous. You can play free after you have registered.

Take the challenge and test your English vocabulary like never before! Go to: Scrabulous.com

Happy New Year!

David Hurley
Succeed-in-English.com