every
part of speech
determiner
meaning for a pupil
1) Every means each one of a group, with none left out: every child. tree →
2) With a time word, every means again and again at that time: every day, every week. tree →
3) «Every other» means one, skip one, the next: every other day. tree →
4) With a number, every shows how often: every 3 hours, one in every ten. tree →
5) (casual) «Every man and his dog» (UK, Australia) means a great many people; «every which way» (US) means in all directions. tree →
6) (formal) The exam voice says «each and every», «at intervals of», «per», «in every instance», «on each occasion». tree →
sense in the lessons
the size of each row or group («9 marbles in every row» = equal groups); something repeated each time («4 pages every day for 5 days» = multiply); «every 10 minutes» = a repeat at a fixed gap; in everyday life «every day», «every time», «everyone», «everything», «everywhere»; in science rules that hold for every case; in casual talk «every man and his dog», «every bloody time»; in the exam voice «at intervals of», «on each occasion»
examples
- There are 6 rows of marbles with 9 marbles in every row. How many marbles are there? tree →
- Every bag has 3 oranges. tree →
- Jake reads 4 pages every day for 5 days. tree →
- I brush my teeth every morning and every night. tree →
- Every child in the class has a library card. tree →
- The bus comes every ten minutes. tree →
- We go swimming every other Saturday. tree →
- Every plant needs water and light. tree →
- Every bloody time I wash the car, it rains! tree →
- Every man and his dog was at the beach today. tree →
- A vehicle departs at intervals of ten minutes; determine the number of departures within one hour. tree →
- Mignon grew more lovely every day. tree →
note
Like «each»: equal groups; with the number of groups and the size of every group, multiply. Trap: with a total and «how many in every …», divide. «Every» takes a singular noun and verb: every boy is, not every boys are. «Every day» (each day) is two words; «everyday» (ordinary) is one. «every other day» is half as often as every day. «every bloody time» is an angry exaggeration, not an exact count. An hour has 60 minutes, so «every 10 minutes» is 6 times in an hour.
In the corpora
- Shops, hospitals, buses and factories need people at all hours, so their workers follow a rota that can change every week.
- Employers often glance at a CV for less than a minute, so grown-ups fuss over every word.
- Living in a home costs money every single month, even when nobody buys anything new.
- A subscription keeps taking money every month until it is cancelled, and free trials often turn into payments.
- A newborn baby needs feeding every two or three hours, day and night, because its stomach is tiny.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «every» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.