All my family

I have read text about how to use all and whole but I still do not understand it. Can you tell me, please, when to use 1st type and when to use 2nd type and give me some exampleas.

I am not a student and this is not my homework.

All my family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

or

Whole my family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

asked Mar 7 ’17 at 11:39

The first is correct, because “all (of)” identifies what percentage of your family you are talking about:

All (of) my family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

Compare to:

Half (of) my family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

The second is wrong, because “whole” must modify family, not my:

My whole family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

answered Mar 7 ’17 at 12:28

The word “whole” may be an adjective meaning including all components without exception, and then it should follow the pronoun:

My whole family was on holiday in Spain last summer;

or it may be a noun meaning “all of something including all its component elements or parts”, and then it should be used as “the whole of something”:

The whole of my family was on holiday in Spain last summer.

The word “all” may be a quantifier or a plural pronoun meaning all people and you can use all my family or all of my family in accordance with your preference.

To me, all the above seem pretty much the same. Anyway, Google Ngram Viewer accepts all of them indicating the rarest usage of “the whole of my family” and the most frequent “my whole family”

answered Mar 7 ’17 at 18:11

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Discussion in ‘English Only’ started by sunnyweather, Jul 10, 2015.

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1. sunnyweather Senior Member Polish
   

   Are both options correct?

   All my family / My all family

   eat there.

   Thank you for your time and attention.

   sunnyweather, Jul 10, 2015 #1

3. JamesM Senior Member Los Angeles, California English, USA
   

   “All my family” is correct; “My all family” is not. You might be confusing it with “My whole/entire family”, which would be correct.

   It’s similar to other phrases: “All the children”, not “The all children”, for example.

   JamesM, Jul 10, 2015 #2

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