'Everything' versus 'Every thing'

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me which one would you prefer?

1- It's as if everything on the plane is shaking.
2- It's as if every thing on the plane is shaking.

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

There's a small difference. 'Every thing' suggests every single thing and empasises 'thing'. 'Everything' suggests totality = all those things and is more common.

A
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Lance]

Hello, Alan.
Your explanation for "everything" versus "every thing" is applied exactly that way to all "thing, body, one" combinations in American English, such as "any one" versus "anyone". I don't think this is true in British English. Please give the definitive list of British preferred spellings, and if both spellings can be used correctly, please mention when the two are equivalent or different in meaning for the following pairs:
every one / everyone; every body / everybody; any thing / anything; any one / anyone; any body / anybody; some thing / something; some one / someone; some body / somebody

It is very hard to find a definitive list online for the British rules in these cases, so I hope you can provide one! Thanks.