Hi Jonathan,
I have a question about the sentence, “They are all excited about Coldplay’s live concert film being shown in cinemas next month.” from Blinktrainer.
I want to know what the difference is between “they are excited” and “they are all excited”.
Could you help me?
This is tricky because “all” sounds like it means all the people (implied by “they”.)
But “all” has another meaning: “the greatest possible (used in referring to quality or degree)”.
One common phrase in which you might have heard this usage is: “with all due respect…”.
So “all excited” means “excited to the greatest possible degree”.
Could you clarify “excited to the greatest possible degree”?
That just means that you can’t be more excited. You are as excited as it is possible for you to feel.