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On many occasions after we complete a speech, we often consider thanking our audience. In this scenario, I am not sure if "Thank you all" is the right English. Should it be "Thanking you all" instead to make it sound correct?

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  • Would it be okay to just say "I thank all of you"?
    – xenon
    Commented Mar 12, 2012 at 14:09
  • Well this is perfect, but I am curious if above mentioned statement is correct, as subconsciously I tend to use "Thank you all", and I did that recently so..
    – samridhi
    Commented Mar 12, 2012 at 14:11
  • I was actually wondering about thanks very much which I have often heard from British people. Many thanks looks far more grammatically correct than thanks very much because much does not go with countable nouns.
    – user32480
    Commented Jan 11, 2013 at 3:39

4 Answers 4

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"(I) thank you all" is correct English, and a complete sentence.

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"Thank you all" is correct because the "I" is implied. The verb "to thank" is correctly conjugated as "thank" for the subject "I." Correct as is!

The word "you", in English, can be singular or plural. This is different than in some other languages such as French where there is a distinction between "tu" and "vous" that can either be the formality of the situation or if the addressed are plural or singular.

So "you all" is correct just as much as using "you" to refer to a single person. As one commenter said it is compulsory in southern US dialects where they commonly run the two words together as in "y'all."

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  • But can you and all go together?
    – samridhi
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 10:10
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    @samridhi: In the Southern USA, it's practically compulsory ;) But seriously, you can be singular or plural; all of you is a common phrase; where do you see a problem?
    – Tim Lymington
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 10:49
  • @TimLymington Thanks for clarifying, I was just digging logically so got a bit confused. I have been using this phrase since long, but suddenly, a thought baffled me.
    – samridhi
    Commented Mar 13, 2012 at 16:09
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For those of you not residing in the southern or southwestern US, "(I) thank y'all." is also correct English, and a complete sentence.

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Thank you all sounds ok colloquially, but in correct written English a noun or pronoun must always be present, not merely implied.

I thank you all or I thank all of you would be my first picks.

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    Under what authority must the subject in correct written English always be present and not merly implied? Implied "You" is used very frequently and I've never had any reason to consider it incorrect.
    – TecBrat
    Commented Jul 10, 2012 at 15:43
  • And a Happy New Year.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 19:56
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    There is nothing ungrammatical about the phrase "thank you." It is an idiom. Someone who forces themselves to always write "I thank you" would sound overly stilted in the same way as if they never used contractions like "didn't" or "won't".
    – ghoppe
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 20:16
  • The British comedian Arthur Askey used 'I thank you!' as a catchphrase, I believe - though it sounded more like 'Aathaangeoo!' Overly stilted is right.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jan 7, 2013 at 23:03

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