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The sudden truth about "all the sudden"

Reviewed and edited by

Anwar Kareem 24/10/2024, 19:03

English.me team member

What kind of error is it?

All the sudden or all of a sudden. What's correct?

Phrase Misconstruction

Why do people make this mistake?

People often mishear or conflate "all of a sudden" as "all the sudden", likely due to the similarity in sound and casual speech patterns.

What is correct?

"All of a sudden" is the correct expression, which indicates something happening unexpectedly or abruptly.

Examples of correct usage

All of a sudden, the lights went out.
It started raining all of a sudden.
All of a sudden, she stood up and left the room.

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