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Seraphin Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

"all IS well" ?

I remember hearing this all the time "hope all IS well" ?
I assume maybe the "all" here refers to something intangible, and as such unaccountable and was followed by "is" ??

Can anyone explain it? Thanks
  

Top answer

It is a famous expression, formerly used by town criers "All is well, all is well". All means "everything". -- "Everything is OK"

— AlpheccaStars

  • It is a famous expression, formerly used by town criers "All is well, all is well".
  • All means "everything".
  • -- "Everything is OK"
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3 Answers
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It is a famous expression, formerly used by town criers "All is well, all is well".
All means "everything". -- "Everything is OK"
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In a literal sense, I CAN NOT think of a case where "all" does NOT mean "everything".
But grammatically, when the word "all" refers to countable nouns, it should be followed by a plural form of verb. Right? I am just puzzled by the choice of "all IS well".

Of course, since the expression has its long history, there is no point of saying it any differently. I was just wondering if the
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All as a pronoun (noun) can be used as a singular or plural. - Examples from the dictionary:

9. the whole quantity or amount: He ate all of the peanuts. All (of them) are gone.
10. the whole number; every one: all of us.
11. everything: Is that all you want to say? All is lost.

As an adjective, it modifies plural nouns, so the verb is plural:
quantifier
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