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Roque Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

*All and all of

Is there any difference between "all" the students and "all of" the students?

Is any of them incorrect? When to use one or the other?

Thank you in advance.

I appreciate the way you help English learners like me! (or should I say "like I"?)
  

Top answer

'All the students' is slightly less formal than 'all of the students', so use the latter when you are writing. 'Like me' is correct-- it is the object of the preposition 'like'.

— Mister Micawber

  • 'All the students' is slightly less formal than 'all of the students', so use the latter when you are writing.
  • 'Like me' is correct-- it is the object of the preposition 'like'.
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5 Answers
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'All the students' is slightly less formal than 'all of the students', so use the latter when you are writing.

'Like me' is correct-- it is the object of the preposition 'like'.
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Dear teachers,

As far as parts of speech is concerned, "all" in "All (of) the students" is a pronoun and not a determinative adjective, isn't it ? But I would like to know why. Is it true that we cannot have 2 determinative adjectives in a row ?

Many thanks,
Hela
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'All' is a pronoun when it is followed by 'of'; in 'all the students', it is a determiner. According to the rule book. I myself think it is just a case of an elided 'of', and 'all' should remain a pronoun. Then we would not have these 'multiple determiners':

All that jazz
All my sons
Both the brothers
Half my life
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1) But why should all / both / some be pronouns when they are followed by 'of'?

2) Don't we say All that jazz / All my sons in spoken English? Is it colloquial ?

Thanks again!
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I agree with MM on 'elided of'. Moreover, when 'all' functions as a noun, it's called a substantive; e.g., All of the students.
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