Breakdown of Приехали все, в том числе бабушка.
бабушка
grandmother
приехать
to arrive (by transport, pf)
весь
all, the whole, everything, everyone
в том числе
including, among them
Questions & Answers about Приехали все, в том числе бабушка.
Why use в том числе for 'including' instead of помимо, which we are learning in this lesson?
помимо means 'besides' or 'apart from' and usually implies adding something extra to a main point. в том числе literally means 'in that number' and specifically highlights someone as part of a previously mentioned group. Since the grandmother is part of the 'everyone' (все) who arrived, в том числе is the perfect fit.
Why is бабушка in the Nominative case? Do inclusion phrases not require a specific case?
Unlike помимо (which forces the Genitive case) or наряду с (which forces the Instrumental), в том числе is not a preposition. The noun following it simply copies the case of the general group it belongs to. Since the group here (все) is the subject and in the Nominative case, бабушка is also Nominative.
If I wanted to rephrase this using помимо to practice the lesson's grammar, how would I do it?
You would need to shift the meaning slightly to 'Besides grandmother, everyone else came.' It would be: Помимо бабушки, приехали все остальные. Notice how помимо forces бабушка into the Genitive case (бабушки).
Is the comma before в том числе strictly necessary?
Yes. In Russian punctuation, when you introduce a specific example to clarify a generalizing word like все (everyone), you must separate that clarifying phrase with a comma.
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