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What would be the difference between these:

  1. Everyone of them rose from their seats.

  2. All of them rose from their seats.

  3. Every one of them rose from their seats.

Which one is grammatically correct? For me all are correct. Which one is preferable and why?

Asterisk
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  • Proofreading is off topic per the [help]. If something specifically confuses you about the three texts, please describe your confusion and ask about that. – MetaEd Aug 14 '13 at 04:18
  • related http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/80696/all-x-vs-all-of-x-vs-all-the-x/80759#80759 and http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/117013/everybody-knows-that-vs-everyone-knows-that/117015#117015 – Mari-Lou A Aug 14 '13 at 05:31
  • Can be asked on ELL if required. – Kris Aug 15 '13 at 12:34

2 Answers2

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1. Everyone of them rose from their seats.

In English, we would not normally use everyone as a single word and follow it by "of them". The "of them" is already implicit in "everyone".

When used as a single word "everyone" is a 'mass noun' referring collectively to the entire group of people. As you are already referring to the group of people as a single entity, the "of them" is inappropriate because it is referring to them as a group of individuals So you would normally just say:

Everyone rose from their seats.

You could say, for example:

Everyone [who was] still sitting rose from their seats.
Everyone in the stalls rose from their seats.

In such cases "everyone" is restricted to a sub-group, but that is not relevant in your examples.

But none of the sentences above emphasises the unity of the audience in all rising from their seats.

2. All of them rose from their seats.

That is a perfectly acceptable sentence, and (in my view) is slightly stronger that #1 in emphasising the unity of the audience in all rising from their seats.

I would not suggest replacing it with

They rose from their seats.

because that is just a plain statement with no emphasis on the unity of the audience and hence does not have the same implicit meaning. But you could say:

They all rose from their seats.

which would be equivalent to your sentence #2.

3. Every one of them rose from their seats.

In contrast to sentence #1, this is acceptable, with "Every one" written as two words. In this sentence, the "one" belongs with "one of them", whereas in sentence #1 the "one" belongs with "everyone". Thus this form means "Every individual person rose from their seats".

This sentence #3 strongly emphasises the unity of the audience and is (in my view) the 'strongest' of the three sentences in that respect.

TrevorD
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  • You could also add "each one" – skan Aug 29 '19 at 19:56
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    @skan (1) Please read the Q. - it does not ask about "each one": it specifically asks about the 3 listed phrases. (2) "Each" is singular, and refers to a multiplicity of individual actions, whereas all the current phrases imply a single unified action. "Each" does not have the same emphasis & connotation as the other phrases. It does not have the same unifying emphasis as "Every one" - see item 3 of my answer above, and also see the third para of the other answer, which concurs that "Every one" implies unity - not the individuality that "Each" would imply. – TrevorD Aug 30 '19 at 23:18
  • Additionally, see my comment below the other answer: "They (all) rose from their seats" also implies a single unified action; whereas "each" implies multiple individual actions. – TrevorD Aug 30 '19 at 23:23
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The first is incorrect. The second is awkward, and the third is correct.

The second speaks of them as a unity, but instead of 'All of them rose from their seats.' you should say 'They rose from their seats.'

The third speaks of them individually. If you want to emphasize that no one remained sitting, then use the third.

caduceus
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  • There is nothing wrong with the second one - it reads perfectly well. "They rose from their seats" is not equivalent as it does not emphasis the all, as you've specifically mentioned for the third. "They all rose from their seats" would be a better equivalent *if* you want to change #2. – TrevorD Aug 14 '13 at 12:07