Already Vs All ready

'Already' means 'by now', 'sooner' than expected'. 

S/he's already here - I wasn't expecting her/him till ten. 

'All ready' is just a combination of the two words 'all' (= everybody or everything) and 'ready'. 

Are you all ready? 

All Vs Whole

Typical mistakes: 

The sat reading the all time. 

I've lived here my all life. 

Whole London was burning. 

She drank the whole wine. 

These two words are easy confuse, perhaps because their pronunciations are similar. 

1. 'Whole' and 'all' are often used with the same meaning. However, the word order is different. 'All' come before an article, possessive or other 'determiner'; 'whole' comes after articles, ete. Compare the following: 

All the time     the whole time 

All my life       my whole life 

All this confusion     this whole confusion 

Note what 'whole' cannot be used with a singular noun if there is no article or other determiner. You can say 'The whole city was burning, but not 'Whole London was burning.' 

2. With plural nouns, 'whole' and 'all' have different meanings. 'Whole' mean 'complete', 'entire'; 'all' has a similar meaning to 'every'. Compare the following: 

All Indian tribe suffered from white settlement in America (= Every Indian tribe suffered...). 

Whole Indian tribes were killed off (= Complete tribes were killed off; nobody was left alive in these tribes). 

3. 'Whole' is not used so often with uncountable nouns and cannot be used with mass nouns. You can say 'all the money', or 'all the wine', but not 'the whole money' or the 'the whole wine'. 

4. The expression 'the whole of' can be used with singular words instead of 'whole'. 'The whole of' comes before articles, possessives, etc. 

The whole of the time     The whole of this confusion     The whole of my life 

All Vs Every

'All' and 'every' have quite similar meanings. They can both be used to talk about people or things in general: note that 'all' can be used with a plural noun and verb, but that 'ever' is only used with singular words. 

All Mondays are horrible. 

Every Monday is horrible. 

Not all Welshmen speak Welsh. 

'All' and 'every' can also be used to talk about the members of a particular group. 'All' is followed by 'the' or another 'determiner'; 'every' is not. 'Every' often emphasizes the idea that there is no exception. 

She's eaten all the biscuits.'     'What, ever one?'     'Every single one!' 

'All' can also be used with a singular word to mean 'every part of'. 'Every' cannot have this meaning. Compare the following: 

She was here all day (= the whole of the day). 

She was here every day (= she didn't miss a day). 

All: Details

The exact rules for the use of 'All' are quite complicated: 

1. All (of) before nouns and pronouns 

In general, 'all' and 'all of' are both possible before a noun, and before 'this' and 'that'. However, if the noun is used alone (without an article, possessive, or other 'determiner'), 'all of' is not usually possible. Compare the following: 

All (of) my friends like riding. 

I've read all (of) the books you lent me. 

I stopped believing in all (of) that years ago. 

All children can be naughty sometimes (Not: All of children...). 

All whisky is expensive (Not: All of whisky...). 

On the other hand, before a personal pronoun only 'all of' is possible; it is used with object pronouns (us, you, them). 

All of them enjoyed the party (Not: All them... or All they...). 

All of you are wrong (Not: All you...). 

They invited all of us (Not: ...all us). 

2. 'All' after nouns and pronouns 

'All' can go after the subject of the sentence. Note that it does not always immediately follow the subject in this case. The exact position is the same as the position of mid-position adverbs: that is to say, (i) before a simple one-word verb; (ii) if there are auxiliary verbs, after the first auxiliary; (iii) after the verb 'be'. 

My friends all like riding. 

They would all have been invited if there had been room (Not: They all would have been invited...). 

We are all tired (Not: We all are tired). 

'All' can also go after a direct or indirect object, but only if this is a personal pronoun (us, you, etc). 

I've eaten them all (Not: I've eaten the cakes all). 

Love you all (Not: Love to the family all). 

I sent them all presents. 

Note that 'all' cannot be used after a subject complement: you can say I've finished it all but not 'This is it all'. 

3. 'All' as subject, object or complement 

'All' can be used as the subject, object or complement of a sentence. In modern English, this is only common when 'all' is followed by a relative clause. Note the two possible meanings of 'all' in this case: 'everything' and 'the only thing(s)'. 

All that I own is yours.     All I want is a room somewhere. 

I'll give you all you want.     This all I've got. 

'All' is not often used to mean 'everybody', except in a very formal style. Instead of 'All who want tickets should go to the office', we would probably say 'All those who want tickets...' or 'All the people who want tickets...' 

In older English, 'all' could be used alone, without a relative clause, to mean 'everything' or 'everybody' (e.g. Tell me all. All is lost. All are dead). This is unusual in modern English, except in dramatic contexts like newspaper headlines (e.g. SPY TELLS ALL), and in the expression 'all about' (e.g. I know all about you. Let's forget all about it). 

4. It is not very common to use 'all' as the subject of a negative verb (e.g. All English people don't like fish and chips). Instead of this, we more often use 'not all' as the subject. 

Not all birds can fly. 

No birds can play chess. 

5. It is sometimes possible to leave out an article after 'all' (e.g. all day, all three brothers). 

All: Introduction

Typical mistakes: 

All of children can be naughty sometimes. 

All you are wrong. We all are tired. 

'All' can be used in several different ways. 

1. It often goes together with a noun or pronoun: different positions are possible. 

a. All (sometimes followed by 'of') can go before a noun or pronoun. 

All (of) my friends like riding. 

All children can be naughty sometimes. 

I hate all of you. 

b.  All can go after a noun or pronoun. 

We all like your cooking. 

The teachers all went on strike. 

Love to you all. 

2. 'All' also can be used as the subject, object or complement of a sentence. 

All I want is a room somewhere. 

I've told you all I know. 

After all

Typical mistake: 

We had a nice party with drinks and dancing; the, after all, we went home. 

'After all' does not mean 'finally'. 

... then, finally, we went home (Or: ... when everything was over, we went home). 

'After all' has two meanings: 

1. 'In spite of what was said before' or 'contrary to what was expected'. 

I'm sorry I can't come after all. 

I thought I was going to fail the exam, but I passed after all. 

With this meaning, after all usually comes at the end of a clause. 

2. 'We mustn't forget that...' This is used to introduce an important argument of a good reason, which the person who is listening seems to have forgotten. 

I think we should let Linsay go camping with her boyfriend. 

After all, she's a big girl now. 

It's not surprising you're tired. After all, you were up until three last night!

Used like this, after all usually goes at the beginning of a clause.