有读者问：all children 与 all the children 有什么区别？ all the children 与 all of children 是否也有所区别？
关于 all children 与 all the children 的区别，可从下面两个句子看出：
(1)All children can be naughty sometimes.
(2)All the children are well taken care of.
句（1）中的 all children 显然泛指所有的儿童。再如：
(3)All men must die. （all men 泛指一切人）
(4)All books are written to be read but not all books are worth reading.
（all books 泛指一切书籍）
句（2）中的 all the children 则特指某个地点（如某个托儿所）的所有儿童，如引出上下文即可清楚地看出这一点。这种“all+the+复数可数名词”结构之后也可用限制性定语表出其特指的性质，如：
(5)All the ministrations of the doctors and nurses couldn't save the sick child's life. （其限制性定语是 of 短语）
(6)I'm going to examine all the minerals I could get hold of and see which ones are radioactive. （其限制性定语是一定语从句）
但在不会引起误会的条件下， all 之后的定冠词有时可以省去，如：
(7)I will see all students at 11 a.m.
(8)We hail from all corners of the country and have joined together for a common revolutionary objective.
此外，复数可数名词之前如有数字， all 后则可用亦可不用定冠词 the，如：
(9)All （the）thirty passengers on the boat were saved.
(10)All three men spoke at once.
(11)Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four days .
但“all+数字”结构不可用 the，如：
(12)All three were unconscious. （all three=all three of them）
至于 all the children 与 all of the children （但一般不说 all of children），二者在意义上并没有什么区别，只是后者较口语化而已。也有人说，all of 多用于美国英语。“all+the+不可数名词”与“all of+the+不可数名词”这两种结构亦无甚区别，如 all (of)the coffee, all (of)the music 等。但也有人认为在不可数名词之前应用 all the, 不应用 all of the。在单数可数名词之前，往往可用 all of,不大用 all，如可说 all of the book，却很少说 all the book。但在时间词 day, hour, week 等之前，则很少用 all of the，应用 all the 或只用 all。
