Learn English – all most vs almost

grammarquantifiersword-choiceword-usage

We can use "almost" not "all most" in this sentence.

When I tried to get a train ticket, ( ) the seats were already taken.

"all most" is grammatical? and if not, why isn't it grammatical?

Best Answer

"All" and "most" are two different words that can be used individually to represent quantity/extent, they cannot be combined.

"Almost" is a different word that is used as a modifier to "all", to indicate that its not affecting 100% but a large majority.

So, you could say:

When I tried to get a train ticket, all the seats were already taken.

i.e. There were no seats available at all.

When I tried to get a train ticket, most of the seats were already taken.

i.e. There were just a few seats available.

When I tried to get a train ticket, almost all the seats were already taken.

i.e. Similar as above, there were a few seats available.

In general use, it would be the following order that tends to be used:

  1. All (indicating 100%)
  2. Almost all (not quite 100% but nearly there)
  3. Most (a large majority)
  4. Many (a majority, though closer to 50%)
  5. Some
  6. Few (a few steps above 0%)
  7. Almost none
  8. None (indicating 0%)
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