Why all of the sudden

‘All of a sudden’ is often attributed to Shakespeare, but he did not use this phrase in any of his many works – at least not in that exact form.

The word ‘all’ is central to the idiom, but Shakespeare does not use that word in his version. In The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare has Tranio speak the line:

“How is it possible that love should of a sodaine take such hold?”

The spelling of ‘sudden’ as ‘sodaine’ is not an issue as the two spellings refer to the same thing, but ‘sodaine’ is the Early Modern English spelling.

Shakespeare uses the word ‘sudden’ several times in his plays, and they are spelt in at least four different ways, as ‘sodeyne,’ ‘suddeyne,’ ‘suddaine,’ ‘sodden.’ However the word ‘all’ as part of this idiom could be an issue as without it the well-known expression doesn’t exist. So Shakespeare’s ‘of a sudden’ is not quite the same as the modern-day ‘all of a sudden’ idiom that we know.

The meaning of ‘all of a sudden’

‘All of a sudden’ means ‘suddenly.’ It has the almost identical meaning, except that ‘all of a sudden’ suggests something even a bit more unexpected than just a sudden occurrence of something.

For example, perhaps ‘all of a sudden there was an explosion is a bit more exciting than ‘suddenly there was an explosion but there is probably nothing in it, except that ‘all of a sudden’ is more poetic.

‘All of a sudden’ – Shakespearean phrase… or not?

The word ‘sudden’ used as a noun

The most interesting thing about the saying is that the word ‘sudden’ is used as a noun – as a thing. But there is no such thing as a sudden. And yet we use it as a noun every day in our common speech– in that idiom – most of us without realising that we are using a word that doesn’t make sense in itself – that we are referring to something that doesn’t exist. And yet we all know what ‘all of a sudden’ means, even those of us who are among the least educated speakers of the English language.

‘Sudden’ is commonly used as an adjective to describe something, for example, a sudden noise, a sudden shower etc. Its use as a noun is archaic, which means that the English language has cast it out as a useable word. As there has never really been such a thing as a sudden, and so nothing to describe, the word did not last very long as an English word used as a noun: that started only in the second half of the sixteenth century, in expressions like ‘on a sudden,’ ‘upon a sudden,’ and the one Shakespeare used – ‘of a sudden,’ which is the closest to our modern ‘all of a sudden.’

And then, somewhere around the beginning of the seventeenth century, the word ‘all’ crept in, and by 1750 ‘all of a sudden’ became the dominant form of what is now an idiom. The older form, without ‘all’  –  ‘of a sudden,’ was still used for another century as it gradually died out.

The evolution of the idiom

Like everything in language, the idiom is still on the march, still evolving, and it’s possible that in subsequent centuries it may be overtaken by a mutation, ‘all of the sudden,’ which is already in evidence.

Although the term ‘all of the sudden’ is not generally used in the United Kingdom, it is gaining ground in America, and beginning to compete with ‘all of a sudden,’ and so Americans are quite likely to say ‘All of the sudden there was an explosion.’

There is no logical reason for that change but that’s the nature of the way a language develops – following the way people use it and becoming common usage according to that use.

Is it regional to use “all of a sudden” versus “all the sudden?” The former sounds more correct to me.

"Everyone wants to know why all of a sudden?

The New York Times - Sports

"Why all of a sudden now is he interested in the Tea Party?" Mr. Hemingway added.

Why, all of a sudden, do they think it will be an impossible situation?

He didn't see why all of a sudden they should be facing these problems".

People, of course, wondered why, all of a sudden, Crimea became part of Ukraine.

When you are describing something that happens quickly and you didn’t expect, what phrase should you use?

You could just use a word like suddenly, but sometimes an idiom like out of the blue or all of a sudden adds a little extra flavor.

But is it all of the sudden or all of a sudden? Native speakers will probably say this phrase quite quickly in everyday speech, causing each variation to sound alike and confusing writers as to the correct spelling.

However, only one of these variations is considered standard, even though there would seem to be little difference between them in meaning.

What is the Difference Between All of a Sudden and All of the Sudden?

In this post, I will compare all of the sudden vs. all of a sudden. I will outline the correct spelling of this phrase, and I will show you a helpful memory tool that will make choosing the correct phrase easier.

When to Use All of a Sudden

All of a sudden tends to describe something that took place unexpectedly or without warning.

For example,

• I was just about to put the horses up for the night, when all of a sudden, a coyote howled nearby.
• All of a sudden, twelve hooded druids appeared in the clearing and formed a circle around the cairn.
• But sometimes you wake up too soon, and all of a sudden Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is throwing deep to Antonio Brown in the third quarter, and the all-pro wide receiver is making a beautiful 26-yard touchdown reception and twerking in the end zone. –The Washington Post

The idiom all of a sudden is an adverb phrase, which means it modifies verbs in sentences. Since it means suddenly, some writers have a pet peeve of people who use it to describe actions that don’t actually happen suddenly.

When to Use All of the Sudden

The below graph charts both variations, all of a sudden vs. all of the sudden, since the year 1800.

All of a sudden clearly predominates. Avoid the error all of the sudden.

Trick to Remember the Difference

You should always use all of a sudden because all of the sudden is not the correct phrase. For the sake of simplicity, it might be an even better idea to stick with the adverb suddenly instead.

But, when you want add little extra pizzazz to your writing, here’s how you can remember that all of a sudden is the correct spelling.

Since all of a sudden would come before all of the sudden alphabetically (A comes before The), it should be easy to remember that all of a sudden is the standard version of this phrase. Since this spelling comes first in the alphabet, it should be your first choice.

Summary

Is it all of a sudden or all of the sudden? All of a sudden is an idiom that functions as an adverb phrase. It has the same meaning as suddenly, which means quickly or unexpectedly.

• All of a sudden is the correct spelling.
• All of the sudden is a misspelling of the phrase.