THE DISTRIBUTIVES (ALL, BOTH, HALF)

THE DISTRIBUTIVES

ALL, BOTH, HALF

These words can be used in the following ways:

ALL +

1 2 3 4a 4b

- the my, your, etc. this, that these, those

Uncountable noun or Countable noun in the plural Uncountable noun Countable noun in the plural

Examples
1.	All cheese contains protein All children need affection
2.	All the people in the room were silent. Have you eaten all the bread?
3.	I've invited all my friends to the party. I've been waiting all my life for this opportunity.
4a.	Who's left all this paper on my desk?
4b.	Look at all those balloons!
BOTH +	1 2 3 4	- the my, your, etc. these, those	Countable noun in the plural

	Example
	1.	Both children were born in Italy.
	2.	He has crashed both (of) the cars.
	3.	Both (of) my parents have fair hair.
	4	You can take both (of) these books back to the library. See note below
HALF +		1 2 3 4	a the my, your, etc. this, that, these, those	Uncountable or countable noun

Example
1.	I bought half a kilo of apples yesterday.
2.	You can have half (of) the cake. She gave me half (of) the apples.
3.	I've already given you half (of) my money. Half (of) his books were in French.
4	Half (of) these snakes are harmless You can take half (of) this sugar.

NOTE: All, both, half + OF: 'OF' must be added when followed by a pronoun:
All of you; both of us; half of them
It is also quite common to add it in most of the above situations except when there is no article (No.1 in all the tables above.)

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THE DISTRIBUTIVES

EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These distributive words are normally used with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun.

Each, either and neither can be used with plural nouns but must be followed by 'of':

Each is a way of seeing the members of a group as individuals:

·         Each child received a present.

·         Each of the children received a present.

Every is a way of seeing a group as a series of members:

·         Every child in the world deserves affection.

It can also express different points in a series, especially with time expressions:

·         Every third morning John goes jogging.

·         This magazine is published every other week.

Either and Neither are concerned with distribution between two things - either is positive,neither is negative:

·         Which chair do you want? Either chair will do.

·         I can stay at either hotel, they are both good

·         There are two chairs here. You can take either of them.

·         Neither chair is any good, they're both too small.

·         Which chair do you want? Neither of them - they're both too small.

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