Turns out that everything is the current default spelling, however if you want to get picky *grin*, “the difference is one of emphasis, every thing focuses on the individual items, everything focuses on all items as a unit” (Everything).
Unless . . . yeah, you were waiting for that one, weren’t you? If you slip an adjective in between every and thing, then, obviously, you will write it as two words . . . every single time . . . got it?
Curious About Other Everys?
If you’re curious about other every closed compound words, you may want to check out “Every Body versus Everybody“, “Every Day versus Everyday“, “Every Man versus Everyman“, “Every One versus Everyone“, “Every Place versus Everyplace“, “Every Way versus Everyway“, and “Every Where versus Everywhere“.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Every Thing | Everything |
|---|---|
 — |
 — |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adverbial Phrase consisting of a Determiner + Noun
Plural for noun: every thing |
Closed Compound Word
Noun; Pronoun Plural for noun: everything |
| Specific phrase referring to each individual object (or objects in a group) to which one need not, cannot, or does not wish to give a specific name
Particularly useful when an adjective is inserted between every and thing |
Always uses singular verb
Noun: Something that is extremely or most important Pronoun:
The current situation
|
| Examples: | |
| Pick up every single thing.
She has every goddammned thing she could want! Do I have to eat every last thing on my plate? |
Noun: Money is his everything. Pronoun: They sell herbal cures for everything from leprosy to rheumatism. I lost everything in the hurricane. He owed everything to his years in Munich. Money isn’t everything. How’s everything? Everything is going okay. You’ll still get paid and everything. She was articulate, she was fun — it seemed to me she had everything. |
| History of the Word: | |
| Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400. | Mid-19th century in both American- and British-English. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Every Thing versus Everything
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: everything
“Everything or Every Thing: What’s the Difference?” Writing Explained. n.d. Web. n.d. <http://writingexplained.org/everything-or-every-thing-difference>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Nice Selection of REAL Buses, <https://visualhunt.com/f2/photo/4118859026/ee4f8ce254/>, by Gene Hunt is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via VisualHunt.
Revised as of 11 Apr 2024
By: Kathy Davie