6.15. All, each and every

| Chapter 6: Descriptions |

| 6.15. All, each and every

When testing conditions, we normally talk only about specific things, or else ask if a particular circumstance happens:

> if the oaken door is open
> if a woman is carrying an animal

But we can also use "all", "each" or "every" to check the whole range:

> if each door is open
> if anyone is carrying all of the animals
> if everybody is in the Dining Room

Inform allows other English "determiners" (as they are sometimes called), as well:

> if some of the doors are open
> if most of the doors are open
> if almost all of the doors are open

are true if at least one case is true, if a majority (any number greater than one half) or at least 80 per cent of the possible cases are true, respectively.

And we can also use "none" and "no". These three are all ways to say the same thing:

> if no door is open
> if all of the doors are not open
> if none of the doors is open

though it may be clearer style to find a positive way of putting things:

> if all of the doors are closed

All, each and every can be applied to values, too - but only in some cases. For example, suppose we write:

> Colour is a kind of value. The colours are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. A colour can be found or unfound.

And suppose that, during play, we assign the "found" property to any colour which the player notices on a wall. We might then want to write conditions like so:

> if every colour is found
> if most of the colours are found
> if any colour is found

But we always have to bear in mind that Inform might have no reasonable way to decide these questions. It will refuse to allow these, for example:

> if every number is positive
> if any text is palindromic

(even supposing the adjective "palindromic" has been defined) - there are practically infinitely many possible numbers and texts, so the search cannot sensibly be done.

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| Example Revenge of the Fussy Table A small game about resentful furniture and inconvenient objects. |
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