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This website talks about how all should only be used with plural nouns. But I'm wanting to say "all the following," and "all the followings" doesn't work. And every and each doesn't work either. I am a native speaker, and I fell like "all the following" is perfectly fine. So, can all be used with a singular noun? And if yes, then why doesn't this violate the grammar (the grammar being " how all should only be used with plural nouns" on the website)?


I realize that "all of the following" works. However I'd prefer to use "all the following." Although if it doesn't work, I'm willing to use "all of" instead of "all".

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Look a little further down in that article, and you will see the construction All + of + determiner + noun. The article notes that in this construction,

The noun can be singular, plural or an uncountable noun. These nouns can also be replaced by pronouns.
You need to read all of the book.
All of the pages are yellow and old.

Most important for you, the article also notes that

We can also remove OF before the determiner + noun (but we must use OF before a pronoun)
You need to read all the book.
All the pages are yellow and old.

Your use has a determiner and could be rewritten as all of the following, so it's fine to use a singular noun.

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  • I realize that "all of the following" works. However I'd prefer to use "all the following," and it doesn't say its ok to use only "all" with singular nouns. Although if it doesn't work, I'm willing to use "all of" instead of "all".
    – user62701
    Commented Oct 1, 2017 at 22:36
  • It does say it's ok—that's what "We can...remove OF before the determiner" means: you can change all of the following to all the following. What native speakers generally don't say is something like all apple is delicious. It can, though, be either all of the apple is delicious or all the apple is delicious.
    – 1006a
    Commented Oct 1, 2017 at 23:08

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