All and Whole



All and Whole often have the same meaning, but they are used differently.

With the definite article:



All comes before the definite article: All the time

Whole comes after the definite article: The whole time


With a possessive adjective:



All comes before a possessive adjective: All my life

Whole comes after a possessive adjective: My whole life


With a singular noun:



Whole can only be used after a definite article: The whole country (not 'Whole country')


With Plural Nouns:



They have different meanings:

All exams were affected. = Every exam was affected.

Whole exams were affected. = This doesn't mean that every exam was affected, but that some were affected completely.


With uncountable nouns:



We generally use all. We can say 'the whole of the' before an uncountable noun.

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