We heard from a fellow concerned about his potential misuse of the word all. With the encouragement of a colleague, our correspondent had already managed to excise the term alls (as in alls I'm doing is talking) from his speech. The fellow reported that he replaced what he called "a particularly poorly devised phrase" with the expression all that (as in all that I know is that I'm trying).

Our would-be clean-speaking friend was dismayed to then be told by his coworker that all that didn't cut the mustard either; the in all that had to go. So, describing himself as a reasonable fellow.... all for improving myself, he asked for our advice.

Our advice is this: don't worry about all that. It's true that removing the from the phrase all that often doesn't change the meaning of a message much at all. Just think of the Armed Forces slogan: Be all that you can be. Sometimes, that that adds a desirable emphasis. It is also true that using that after the pronoun all is quite well-established and perfectly acceptable. Alfred Lord Tennyson used it just that way when he wrote, But teach high thought, and amiable words/...And love of truth, and all that makes a man.