What kind of word is ALL

Grammar and, in general, the language works under linguistic classifications. In this way, the different words that make up a language have different classifications. In Spanish, grammar divides words into verbs, nouns, articles, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns, among others. In the case of this lesson from a Teacher we will talk about what kind of word is ALL, that is, within the grammar, what function it fulfills and how we can classify it.

Index

1. Types of words in Spanish
2. The word ALL is an indefinite pronoun
3. Word ALL as an adjective - with examples
4. Pronoun: easy definition

Before discovering what type of word ALL is, let's learn about the different types of words in Spanish.

As usual words are classified according to the function they are fulfilling within a phrase or sentence. The most common are the verb (indicating actions) and nouns (any object, person or animal). However, there are other types of words such as adjectives (which work to qualify nouns) and adverbs (which serve to qualify verbs). We also find articles that express the gender of the object, for example, “la” for “la casa”.

As regards today's topic, we will refer to a specific type of word: the pronouns. Before specifying why "all" is a word that is classified within pronouns, it is pertinent that we review its definition and typology.

Image: Grammar

When asked what kind of word EVERYONE is, you have to know that the answer is UNDEFINED PRONOUN.

"All" is part of the indeterminate pronouns. But why? Well, because it is a word that refers to a person or, in this case, people in an indeterminate way. This means that we know that the set of people to whom it refers is its entirety, but we don't know exactly how many people there are.

This in case they are not accompanying a noun: "everyone is going home", "everyone is at the party" or

Examples:

• They all arrived on time.
• They all went on vacation to the Maldives.
• Everyone liked your show.
• You got everyone excited.

It is pertinent that Let's see another use and classification that fulfills the word "all". In addition to being a pronoun of the indefinite type, it can also be classified as a adjective. Remember that adjectives are words that accompany nouns within a sentence and express a characteristic of them.

In the case of "all" we are talking about an adjective that is giving a quality to the object a in terms of its number. This is usually put before the noun as used in the following two examples:

1. All the pencils have been dropped.
2. All the children play in the park.

As you can see, in both cases the word "All" is indicating the totality of objects belonging, in the first case, to the group of pencils and, in the second, to the children.

In conclusion, the word "all" has two uses. On the one hand, it can be an indeterminate pronoun that helps us to replace a noun. On the other hand, it can act as an adjective to indicate the totality of a group of objects or people in a sentence.

According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE), pronouns are words that replace a noun to refer to people, animals or things without necessarily naming them explicitly. This definition seems complicated, but it is actually very simple.

Pronouns are those words like “they”, “this”, “all”, “who”, among others, that allow us to refer to subjects without mentioning them. For example, instead of saying “Luis and Juan go to the park”, we can use the pronoun “they”: “They go to the park”.

Pronouns types

Grammar usually makes many classifications and this is no exception. It is worth clarifying the different types of pronouns that exist.

• Personal pronoun: are those that mention the person we are talking about without referring to them. Perhaps you will recognize them easier if we remind you of them: me, you, him, her, us, you and them.
• Possessive pronouns: are those that indicate that the something belongs to said subject. They can be singular or plural. For example: mine or mine, ours or ours, yours or yours.
• Demonstrative pronouns: They are those that serve to identify someone or something in space or time in reference to who is speaking. They can be: that, this or that.
• Indefinite pronouns: are those that express, in an indeterminate way, the amount of something: nobody, some, some, few, etc.
• Interrogative pronouns: are those that serve to construct or enunciate questions. You can recognize them as: who, what, who, among others.
• Exclamatory pronouns: they are those that serve to construct or enunciate exclamations. See: What!, Who!, How many!

If you want to read more articles similar to What kind of word is ALL, we recommend that you enter our category of Grammar and Linguistics.

• Dabove, C; Dellarciprete, R. (s.f.). Grammar manual. National University of La Plata.
• REAL ACADEMIA ESPAÑOLA: Dictionary of the Spanish language, 23rd ed., [Version 23.4 online]. https://dle.rae.es
• Roca, S. (s.f.). Pronouns.