entire 与 whole 在许多情况下可以通用。 例如: The people's government has the support of the entire(whole) population . 人民政府得到全民的支持。 whole 常用来强调某事物的完整性,即没有任何部分被忽略或舍去,相当于 every part。在日常语言中,whole 远比 entire 用得多。 例如: One day the police even used their sticks during a peaceful march by blacks , and this was seen across the whole country on TV . (也可用 entire) 有一天,黑人在进行和平进军的时候,警察使用了警棍,这个情景全国的电视上都看到了。
区别: entire 可以修饰抽象名词,whole 则不能。 如: This would destroy the entire peace of the Middle East . 这将会破坏整个中东和平。