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A. 1. neither means ‘not one and not the other’. It takes an affirmative singular verb. It can be used by itself or followed by a noun or by of + the/these/those/possessives or personal pronouns: (a) I tried both keys but neither (of them) worked. (b) Neither of them knew the way/Neither boy knew . [...]
A. all (pronoun) can be followed by of + the/this/these/that/those/ possessives and proper nouns. both (pronoun) + of can be used similarly but with plural forms only. The of here is often omitted especially with all + a singular noun/pronoun. all the town all (of) Tom’s boys all his life both (of) the towns all [...]
both means ‘one and the other’. It takes a plural verb. both can be used alone or followed by a noun: Both (doors) were open or by (of) + the/these/those or possessives: both (of) the wheels both (of) your wheels or by of + us/you/them: Both of us knew him. A personal pronoun + both [...]
A. all compared to every Technically, all means a number of people or things considered as a group while every means a number of people or things considered individually. But in practice every and its compounds are often used when we are thinking of a group. B. each (adjective and pronoun) and every (adjective) each [...]
Certain adverbs and adverb phrases, mostly with a restrictive or negative sense, can for emphasis be placed first in a sentence or clause and are then followed by the inverted (i.e. interrogative) form of the verb. The most important of these are shown below. The numbers indicate paragraphs where an example will be found. hardly [...]
hardly, scarcely and barely are almost negative in meaning. hardly is chiefly used with any, ever, at all or the verb can: He has hardly any money, (very little money) I hardly ever go out. (I very seldom go out.) It hardly rained at all last summer. Her case is so heavy that she can [...]
This is a confusing word because it has two meanings. A. It means ‘completely’ when it is used with a word or phrase which can express the idea of completeness (all right, certain, determined, empty, finished, full, ready, right, sure, wrong etc.) and when it is used with a very strong adjective/adverb such as amazing, [...]
A. Both can mean ‘moderately’, but fairly is chiefly used with ‘favorable adjectives and adverbs (bravely, good, nice, well etc.), while rather is chiefly used in this sense before ‘unfavorable’ adjectives and adverbs (bad, stupidly, ugly etc.): Tom is fairly clever, but Peter is rather stupid. I walk fairly fast but Ann walks rather slowly. [...]
absolutely, almost, barely, completely, enough, entirely, extremely, fairly, far, hardly, just, much, nearly, only, quite, rather, really, scarcely, so, too, very etc. (For (a) little, see 5 D; for fairly and rather, see 42; for hardly, scarcely, barely, see 44; for quite, see 43.) A. An adverb of degree modifies an adjective or another adverb. [...]
These modify the whole sentence/clause and normally express the speaker’s/narrator’s opinion. A. Adverbs expressing degrees of certainty (a) actually (= in fact/really), apparently, certainly, clearly, evidently, obviously, presumably, probably, undoubtedly (b) definitely (c) perhaps, possibly, surely Adverbs in group (a) above can be placed after be: He is obviously intelligent. before simple tenses of other [...]