The Whole Of The Time vs. The Whole Time?

konstantine   Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:02 pm GMT
Hello!
I'm an ESL student and here is where I'm getting slightly confused: which of the following sentences is more grammatically correct: "I work the whole of the time" vs. "I work the whole time". It would be also appreciated if you could tell me the difference between these two phrases from both American and British points of view.
Thank You!
Guest   Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:05 pm GMT
In the US, you'd probably say:

"I work full-time."

If you worked an entire period of time, you could also say:

"I worked the whole time. or "I plan to work the whole time."

I poetry or song lyrics (if you needed extra syllables), you might say "I work the whole of the time.".
Skippy   Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:02 pm GMT
Guest is right, there's really no context in which I can see "I work the whole of the time" being used, perhaps in a literary setting. In the US, if you were to say "I work full-time" means you work 40 hours a week (a full work week). I'm assuming you mean to say "I work the whole time (that I'm here)" or something along those lines.