We are not bound to believe all … He said

Analyze the question

The sentence is: "We are not bound to believe all ......... he said." We need the word that correctly links "all" to the clause "he said."

Explain the concept

When a clause modifies the pronoun all, everything, something, anything, nothing, or much, the relative pronoun used is that (not which or what). It is often called a restrictive relative pronoun. In this sentence, "all" is an indefinite pronoun that needs "that" to introduce the clause "he said."

Step-by-step solution

• A. what: "all what he said" is wrong because what already means "the thing that," so it would duplicate the meaning of all. Standard English does not use "all what."
• B. which: Which is not used after all. We use "that" after "all", "everything", "nothing", and similar words.
• C. these: "all these he said" is ungrammatical, because these is a demonstrative and does not introduce the clause.
• D. that: "all that he said" is correct. Here that is a relative pronoun linking "all" to "he said."

Complete sentence: We are not bound to believe all that he said.

Answer: D

Exam tip

Remember: all, every­thing, nothing, little, much, only + THAT. If you see one of these words just before a blank introducing a clause, choose that. Examples: "Everything that glitters is not gold," "All that I have is yours."