Difference between total and whole?

[Egor]

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #21 "Modal Verbs", question 9

It's a story told in six hundred pages and it took me the best part of six weeks to read the total book.

(a) told
(b) took me
(c) total

English Grammar Error, Intermediate level

ESL/EFL Test #21 "Modal Verbs", answer 9

It's a story told in six hundred pages and it took me the best part of six weeks to read the whole;entire book.

Correct entry: whole;entire
The error was: (c) total
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What's the difference between total and whole?

Egor

[Alan]

Hi Egor,

Whole has the idea of completeness as in:

We spent the whole day lying in the sun (from the beginning to the end of the day).

Total has the idea of an accumulation or amount often with regard to numbers or expenses as in

When you work out the total cost (adding up all the different expenses involved) of buying a house, you realise it is a very big undertaking.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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