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Jang Joonggun
entire information?
Text:
The handbook contains ___ information about payroll, benefits, and terms of employment.
complete information (o)
entire/whole information (x)
Question:
I don't understand why 'entire' and 'whole' aren't proper in the blank.
Is it a collocation issue?
Jan 15, 2018 2:15 PM
Answers · 4
1
It's an issue of countable/uncountable nouns.
"Entire" and "whole" only work with countable nouns, as part of the following construction:
[Determiner] + [adjective] +[ singular countable noun]
For example, you can say "the entire book", "that whole day" or "an entire watermelon". This refers to the thing in its entirety, as opposed to only part of it. "Entire" and "whole" are synonyms in this context.
You cannot use either of them in this context because 'information' is an uncountable noun. In English, 'information' corresponds to the notion of 'stuff' rather than 'things'. It can collocate with 'complete', though. It is possible to say 'complete information'. If information is complete, it means that nothing is missing.
January 15, 2018
...and thanks for the clarification.
January 15, 2018
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Jang Joonggun
Language Skills
English, Korean
Learning Language
English
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