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All this is Kim’s. (CGEL,p.467)

There is a universal determinative (all) plus ‘this.’ So ‘this’ would be an equivalent to a subdivisible non-count or singular noun phrase, e.g. the whisky, the book (CGEL,p.375). But I can’t think well of some examples for the above sentence. What cases are there for the saying?

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  • 2
    This might help: replace that this with this stuff. Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 10:43

2 Answers 2

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A list would be off-topic; but the principle may be illustrated using your own examples.

  1. (gesturing towards the whisky) ? All this is Kim’s.

    This works just dandy if you are in Kim’s distillery or admiring a shelf of her bottles of whisky: all is proper here, because whisky is ordinarily non-count. But if you are speaking of a row of shot-glasses laid out for Kim’s consumption, or of her remarkably diverse collection of various sorts of whisky, you will have to say

    All these are Kim’s.

  2. (gesturing towards the book) ? All this is Kim’s.

    Ordinarily this would be ungrammatical: all does not suit semantically with a singular instance of a count noun like book. And if you were speaking of many books you would have to say

    All these are Kim’s.

    However, circumstances can be imagined which would accommodate all this with reference to either a single book or several books. For instance, if Karl advanced a claim to ownership of the dust jacket of the (single) book in question, you might insist that

    All this is Kim’s, meaning pages, binding and dust jacket and all.

    And if you were drawing an invidious comparison between CGEL, the collaborative product of 15 authors, and Kim’s magisterial four-volume three-thousand-page monograph on The Oxford Comma in an Historical Perspective, you might well say (with a sneer)

    All this is Kim’s, meaning she accomplished the entire work through her own unaided efforts.


Or whiskey, if you are American or Irish.There is a useful discussion of this point here.

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  • When it were not for your †, I wouldn’t have known that story. Actually a Korean dictionary website mentioned that ‘whisky’ is used in (영국•캐나다•오스트레일리아; British, Canadian, Australia). And this examples are way much than ‘whiskey’ on the Korean dictionary. Considering both Korea and Japan are now connected tighter with America on multi-aspects - politics, military, economy - than others, it’s interesting that British whisky is preferred. That’s probably because Japan contacted Britain first before the US;
    – Listenever
    Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 23:32
  • and though Korea contacted in fact America first widely in historical aspect - a former British ambassador said in a YouTube that British Korea relationship increased in 70s, while that of America and Korea started in late 40s, the proximity to Japan might be reflected on their preference (in Daum.net, whisky 673, whiskey 60). But recently the intimate relationship between Korea and US is reflected on two Korean English newspapers (Korea Herald, whisky 61, whiskey 108; Korea Times, whisky 149, whiskey 158).
    – Listenever
    Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 23:33
  • @Listenever Fascinating! It might also be relevant to ask which tipple Korean drinkers prefer: Scotch (-y), or bourbon/rye/Irish (-ey). Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 23:44
  • As far as I know, Korean and even Japanese haven’t loved to drink alcohols too strong, they developed historically mild alcohols as you might be heard ‘sake’ that is made from rice - they call ‘rice wine’ these days in English, though China has their famous strong alcohols - you can meet them in Chinese restaurants. But for Korea, there came out those who love to drink strong alcohols after their liberation from Japan and meeting with Americans.
    – Listenever
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 0:49
  • When Koreans were devastatingly poor - it was just a few decades ago - its quality or their taste were not important, it’s just ‘their - a first rate power nation’s - alcohol that draw them into the strange alcohol world. And their stress that companied by during their compressed growth period. A Korean website says that Korea is the fourth importer of whiskies/whiskeys - America, France, Spain, Korea.
    – Listenever
    Commented Sep 23, 2014 at 0:50
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Do you mean examples where it would apply? Suppose Kim and Sally are roommates. You are helping Kim to move out. Sally and Kim put all of the things that belong to Kim in a pile. Then Sally points to the pile and says to you, "All this is Kim's. Take that. The rest is mine. Leave that behind."

Any time you want to identify some collection of "stuff", whatever it may be, as belonging to one person, you could use a sentence like that.

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