What to make of it all = how to deal with it at all?

What to make of something means what to think of something, what conclusion to draw from it.

Agreed.

Agreed. One sometimes does not know "what to make" of a confusing mass of different pieces of information.

Thank you both.

But what does "all" mean there?

If you mean this one...

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it all

It means "the totality of it" - whatever Clinton was having trouble making sense of.

Consider:

There are so many birds in the sky that I cannot count them all. (=all of them)

There is so much in the newspapers about Iraq, that I do not have enough time to read it all. (=all of it)

Thanks

"What to make of it all" means how to UNDERSTAND the information in front of u.


" how to deal with it at all" means what to DO about the situation.





David