<p>First, a little background: Most of 鲁迅's writings  were done in the middle of 白话文运动--to write with plain Chinese instead of arcane literary Chinese. Unfortunately, 鲁迅's way of using plain Chinese was not as influential as chairman Mao's, most of which actually have Huananese origin. From today's point of view, 鲁迅's "plain Chinese" is rather idiosyncratic.</p>

<p>凡事: Under most/all circumstances.</p>

<p>凡事，指不论什么事；所有的事。语出前蜀 魏承班 《谒金门》词之二：“愁倚画屏凡事懒，泪沾金缕线。”</p>

<p>Source: <a href="http://baike.baidu.com/view/3066308.htm" rel="nofollow">http://baike.baidu.com/view/3066308.htm</a></p>

<hr>

<p>所有: 整个;全部；一切。有时也指一定范围内的。All, all within a scope.</p>

<p>Source: <a href="http://baike.baidu.com/view/1006583.htm" rel="nofollow">http://baike.baidu.com/view/1006583.htm</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-08T16:50:59.243Z
2014-09-23T06:48:42.163Z
2014-09-23T06:48:42.163Z
George Chen
<p>"凡" means "usual" with a sense of "in most cases", etc.  It also means "every", especially when supplemented with "必", "都", "皆" etc.  We need to distinguish them by the context of the sentence.</p>

<p>For example, in supermarket, it says "凡購物滿一百元可獲九折".  Also, during a wedding, the priest often tell the couple to "凡事忍耐".</p>

<p>Obviously, "凡" carries different meanings in the two scenarios.  </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-09T05:24:29.117Z
2014-09-09T05:24:29.117Z
Henry HO
<p>1) "凡事" means "所有的事". So it is "凡" that means "所有", rather than "凡事" itself.</p>

<p>2) In effect, "凡" says more than "所有", but this distinction is boring and insignificant. I would say this: Logically, "所有的學生都很乖" is equivalent to "凡學生都很乖". </p>

<p>3) "凡" has way more meanings and usages than "所有".</p>

<p>You might not want to use "凡" to replace "所有" in spoken Chinese, for doing so may very well cause confusion or even give people an impression that you are trying to be cool...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-09-09T02:22:04.197Z
2014-09-09T02:22:04.197Z
Yes
<p>Recently, I've been reading a bit of 鲁迅 and I've run into the word 凡事 a number of times. Everytime, I see it translated it seems to  mean 所有。 It seems to me that 凡事 is either an older usage or is much more formal - is that correct? As well, are there any ways in which they are used differently
Ex. Could I say 
"凡事（的）学生都很乖“？ </p>

<grammar>
Is there a difference between 凡事 and 所有？
# Is there a difference between 凡事 and 所有？

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-09-08)

Recently, I've been reading a bit of 鲁迅 and I've run into the word 凡事 a number of times. Everytime, I see it translated it seems to mean 所有。 It seems to me that 凡事 is either an older usage or is much more formal - is that correct? As well, are there any ways in which they are used differently
Ex. Could I say
"凡事（的）学生都很乖“？

**Tags:** grammar


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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2014-09-09. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

1) "凡事" means "所有的事". So it is "凡" that means "所有", rather than "凡事" itself.

2) In effect, "凡" says more than "所有", but this distinction is boring and insignificant. I would say this: Logically, "所有的學生都很乖" is equivalent to "凡學生都很乖".

3) "凡" has way more meanings and usages than "所有".

You might not want to use "凡" to replace "所有" in spoken Chinese, for doing so may very well cause confusion or even give people an impression that you are trying to be cool...


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### Answer by username_1 on 2014-09-08. Score: 4

First, a little background: Most of 鲁迅's writings were done in the middle of 白话文运动--to write with plain Chinese instead of arcane literary Chinese. Unfortunately, 鲁迅's way of using plain Chinese was not as influential as chairman Mao's, most of which actually have Huananese origin. From today's point of view, 鲁迅's "plain Chinese" is rather idiosyncratic.

凡事: Under most/all circumstances.

凡事，指不论什么事；所有的事。语出前蜀 魏承班 《谒金门》词之二：“愁倚画屏凡事懒，泪沾金缕线。”

Source: <http://baike.baidu.com/view/3066308.htm>

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所有: 整个;全部；一切。有时也指一定范围内的。All, all within a scope.

Source: <http://baike.baidu.com/view/1006583.htm>


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### Answer by username_2 on 2014-09-09. Score: 1

"凡" means "usual" with a sense of "in most cases", etc. It also means "every", especially when supplemented with "必", "都", "皆" etc. We need to distinguish them by the context of the sentence.

For example, in supermarket, it says "凡購物滿一百元可獲九折". Also, during a wedding, the priest often tell the couple to "凡事忍耐".

Obviously, "凡" carries different meanings in the two scenarios.


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