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It seems that in the expression in ganz Europa one uses ganz without an ending. Why not in ganzem/ganzen Europa?

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  • ich denke, dass es um eine Gradpartikel geht, lesen Sie hier: canoo.net/services/OnlineGrammar/Wort/Adverb/Partikel/…… und könnten Sie bitte den ganzen Satz schreiben, indem man besser den Kontext verstehen kann?!
    – mle
    May 29, 2016 at 23:05
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    Arguably, ganz only remotely remains an adjective in the construction you cite because of the way it doesn’t inflect.
    – Jan
    May 30, 2016 at 8:34
  • Neither in ganzem nor in ganzen, but im ganzen Europa could be possible. It’s hardly idiomatic, though.
    – Crissov
    May 30, 2016 at 14:09
  • @Jan Since you seem to be German and feel that this is not an adjective in this context, I tend to beleave you. May 30, 2016 at 21:10
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    @IgorTraskunov Not an adjective is too strong. But ganz is definitely half way to becoming an uninflected indefinite article like viel or others. The first sentence could have changed in a few decades or centuries.
    – Jan
    May 31, 2016 at 8:49

1 Answer 1

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You use this form when you don't use an article with the noun, so mostly with names.

In ganz Köln gibt es kein besseres Bier.

Ganz Europa feiert heute.

Just like you would not use an article with names ("Das Europa ist ein Kontinent" sounds odd).

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    Mostly place names, though. If you had some sentence where you wanted to say "in the whole of Robert" you'd say im ganzen Robert. It's a rare phrase normally, but might come up in book/author names though: "Im ganzen Dürrenmatt gibt es keine solche Figur"
    – KWeiss
    May 31, 2016 at 8:42
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    @KWeiss Well, ok, especially when you think of the name of the work, like in "Im ganzen Werther". But there you don't use "ganz", you do add an ending.
    – Robert
    May 31, 2016 at 15:47

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