All the factory /The whole factory was on fire/ The entire factory was on fire.
- Thread starter vladv
- Start date
Wordy McWordface
Senior Member
SSBE (Standard Southern British English)
No difference.
All the factory seems unlikely in that context.
The whole factory and The entire factory seem to be pretty well the same.
All the factory seems unlikely in that context.
The whole factory and The entire factory seem to be pretty well the same.
lingobingo
Senior Member
English - England
The difference is the way in which you express it. Whole and entire mean the same as each other, while all [of] something means its entirety, with nothing missing/omitted.
The sentence examples are really too short - they simply do not give enough context in order to show the nuances of "all", "whole" and "entire".
In basic terms
All the factory was on fire. - this is not particularly idiomatic - it was a construction that was more common about 200 years ago. You can say "All of the factory was on fire." but that does not really differ from on "The factory was on fire."
The whole factory was on fire. / The entire factory was on fire.
Whole sees the factory as a single unit;
Entire sees the factory as the sum the collection of all its smaller units; entire ~ in its entirety; complete. To me, "entire" is more emphatic.
In basic terms
All the factory was on fire. - this is not particularly idiomatic - it was a construction that was more common about 200 years ago. You can say "All of the factory was on fire." but that does not really differ from on "The factory was on fire."
The whole factory was on fire. / The entire factory was on fire.
Whole sees the factory as a single unit;
Entire sees the factory as the sum the collection of all its smaller units; entire ~ in its entirety; complete. To me, "entire" is more emphatic.