In a book, the author was writing about devoted Turk believers of Islamic faith preaching to their brethren who were more interested in trading. I don't understand the grammar of this sentence though:

" Far and wide the Dervishes traveled through the realm of the Prophet. Some of them prayed, some of them danced, some of the whirled, some of them howled. But one and all they preached a return to the stern tenets of the original desert creed. "

Based on what I found, the expression "one and all" means "everyone". So it should be equal to saying "But everyone they preached a return to the stern tenets". However, the grammar doesn't make sense. "everyone they preached a return"? Does it mean "everyone of them preached a return"? It doesn't seem standard English, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Question

In a book, the author was writing about devoted Turk believers of Islamic faith preaching to their brethren who were more interested in trading. I don't understand the grammar of this sentence though:

" Far and wide the Dervishes traveled through the realm of the Prophet. Some of them prayed, some of them danced, some of the whirled, some of them howled. But one and all they preached a return to the stern tenets of the original desert creed. "

Based on what I found, the expression "one and all" means "everyone". So it should be equal to saying "But everyone they preached a return to the stern tenets". However, the grammar doesn't make sense. "everyone they preached a return"? Does it mean "everyone of them preached a return"? It doesn't seem standard English, or am I missing something?

Thanks!

Answer

It does mean everyone.
But as you can see it is not equal to saying….
It is better to think of it as literary emphasis.
All of them preached a return.
Everyone of them preached a return.
Every one of them..
Emphasis …each and every one of them…every single one…one and all…
Emphasizing the completeness, the totality

Answer

You are right, it isn't exactly standard English. The "they" makes this confusing, because there is already a subject ("one and all"). I think the style is trying to be a bit poetic in a way that many religious texts are.

It would be clearer if there was no "they" or if there were at least a comma between "all" and "they" to suggest that the same idea is being repeated.

So it might have been "one and all, they preached a return" in other words, each one of them preached a return to the tenets (or principles of the religion).

I hope that helps.