 Fri May 05, 2006 10:10 am Whole /complete |
|
|
Hi Salman,
An interesting question. You ask for the difference between whole and complete as used in this sentence:
| Quote: | And by early evening the whole country will see the rain.
Correct answer: (a) whole |
In the sentence whole means entire in the sense of covering every single bit of the country. When we say the whole day, we mean from beginning to end of the day. In this sentence: The whole town came into the centre to celebrate the winners we mean every single member of the town's population.
Complete on the other hand suggests that nothing is missing - in other words all the parts are there as in: the complete works of Shakespeare (every play). Newspapers try to give a complete picture of what happened. I have complete trust in your ability.
To summarize: whole suggests total coverage complete suggests that there is nothing absent.
Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice |
|
Alan
Co-founder
Joined: 27 Sep 2003
Posts: 6847
Location: UK
|
