View Single Post
  #3  
Old Oct 19, 2013, 02:12 AM
Mortavia's Avatar
Mortavia Mortavia is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 141
Default

This time I agree with you Hellacia, but I don't agree with your examples. I hope you don't take offense to that! What "all" really means here is "the whole/entirity of". Look at the third entry for Merriam-Webster's definition, which is the definition for the word as a pronoun. A whole *is* singular, so the whole of what you saw *is* stars. Or, if you'd rather replace "all" with another determiner (specifically, a quantifier) for this specific sentence, you can use "everything", because all you saw is everything you saw. And everything *is* always singular. (Merriam-Webster also uses "everything" as an alternate definition of the word as a pronoun.)

This is the best way I know how to describe it. Though, it may still not sound right to some people. Sometimes English is awkward that way I guess, and I can't comment on whether or not we should go with what sounds/seems better versus what is more grammatically correct. I'm only trying to dispel the confusion!
Reply With Quote