Everything vs. All Things

all every everything indefinite pronouns universal pro-forms

'Everything' is an indefinite pronoun and 'all things' is a noun phrase that is rarely used. They have somewhat similar meanings but they are not 100% the same.

What Is The Difference?

Everything

'Everything' is an indefinite pronoun that refers to all things as a singular collective unit. It is considered a 'singular' pronoun which means it refers to all things as a single unit.
It must be used with a singular verb.

Example

Everything is the way it's supposed to be.

All things

'All things' is plural. It refers to all of the things we are talking about.
It must be used with a plural verb.

Example

"With God all things are possible."

When This Difference Matters?

Another difference between 'everything' and 'all things' is basically related to academic and formal English and it does not apply to informal or spoken English.

'Everything' takes away the sense of individuality of things.

'All things' keeps the sense of individuality of things.

If you are writing a technical text, this difference may matter.

Example

All things are recovered.

Here, it means that each item is recovered as an individual.

Everything is recovered.

Here, it means that a single act of recovery is done, as opposed to the above example in which multiple acts of recovery were performed.

Comments

(1)

Renee Cornish

Dec 2023

Good information

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