皆, 均, 统统 and 唯独: Advanced Words for “All” and “Only”

When to use 皆, 均, 统统 and 唯独: Advanced Words for “All” and “Only”

These adverbs mark the scope of a statement: does it cover everything, or only one thing? Words for “all” go after the subject and before the verb, like 都. 皆 and 均 are the written forms of 都 (人人皆知, 成绩均合格). 尽 (jìn) means “all, nothing but”, usually as 尽是 (地上尽是落叶). 统统 and 通通 are spoken and lively, “every last one” (统统收起来). 一概 and the even more formal 概 mean “without exception” and often come before a negative in rules (一概不准, 概不外借). Words for “only”: 唯独 picks out the one exception after a group (大家都来了，唯独他没来); 唯有 names the only condition, usually followed by 才 (唯有坚持，才能成功); 唯 is the short written form; 无非 means “nothing more than” (see its own guide). 大体 means “on the whole, roughly” (大体相同).