every

Q: What does "every" mean?

1. (all members of a group) used to refer to all the people or things in a group, one by one. 2. (how often something happens) used to show how often something happens or the distance between things. 3. (complete or total) used to show that something is complete or that you have a lot of a feeling.

Q: Is it correct to say "Every students in the class passed."?

No — say "Every student in the class passed.". The word 'every' must be followed by a singular noun, even though you are talking about a group.

Word

01all members of a group

A1 · Beginner

det. used to refer to all the people or things in a group, one by one.

det. used to refer to all individual members of a set without exception. While it refers to a group, it is grammatically singular and takes a singular verb.

“Every student in the class has a different book to read.”

“Every citizen has a responsibility to participate in the democratic process, regardless of their personal political leanings.”

Pitfall

Every students in the class passed.

Every student in the class passed.

The word 'every' must be followed by a singular noun, even though you are talking about a group.

Synonyms

each all

Antonyms

no none

02how often something happens

A2 · Elementary

det. used to show how often something happens or the distance between things.

det. indicates frequency or regular intervals in time or space.

“The bus comes every ten minutes during the morning.”

“The committee meets every third Thursday of the month to review the latest financial reports.”

Synonyms

each regularly

03complete or total

B2 · Upper Intermediate

det. used to show that something is complete or that you have a lot of a feeling.

det. used to emphasize the completeness or high degree of a quality or emotion.

“I have every confidence that you will do a great job.”

“The legal team made every effort to ensure the contract was signed before the end of the fiscal year.”

Synonyms

complete total utmost

every vs each

Each focuses on individual members of a group one by one, while every views the group as a collective whole.

RememberEach is for individuals; Every is for the entire group.

Inherited from Middle English every, everich, eaver-euch, averiche, aver alche, ever ælche, from Old English ǣfre ǣlċ, ǣfre ǣġhwelċ (“each and every”). By surface analysis, ever + each or ever + which.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

ADJECTIVE

everyday(A2)

ADVERB

everywhere(A2)

DETERMINER

every(A1)

PRONOUN

everybody(A1)

everyone(A1)

everything(A1)

all each every day forever