We can
use all/most + noun to make a
generalization.
All rabbits love green food.
Most package systems have two cassette decks.
Most pollution could be avoided.
These are about rabbits, package systems and pollution in general.
Compare these sentences.
Most people want a quiet life. (people = people in general)
Most of the people here are strangers to me. (the people = a specific group of people)
NOTE
As well as most, we can also use majority of and more than ha/f The majority of package systems have two cassette decks. More than half the pollution in the world could, be avoided.
The opposite is minority of or
less than half.
A minority of systems have only one deck.
When we are talking about something more specific, we use all/most/half/none + of determiner + noun.
All (of) our rabbits died from some disease.
Most of the pubs around here serve food.
(NOT the most of the pubs )
Copying takes half (of) the normal playing time.
None of these jackets fit me
any more.
We can
leave out ofafter all and half. But when there is a pronoun, we always use of.
We had
some rabbits, but all ofthem died.
I read
the book, but I couldn't understand halfof
it.
NOTE
a We can use halfa/an to express quantity.
We waited half an hour. I could only eat half
a slice of toast.
b We can use a number after all, e.g. all fifty systems.
c We can use all after an object pronoun.
The
rabbits died. We lost them all/all
of them.
It can also come in mid position or after the
subject.
The
systems can all copy a tapefrom one
deck to the other.
The
rabbits all died.
Who went to the disco? ~ We all did.
We cannot use most in this position, but we can use the adverb mostly.
Package systems mostly/usually have two cassette decks.
None has a negative meaning. We use it with the of-pattern.
None of the rabbits survived. They all died.
NOT All ofthe rabbits didn't-survive.
But not all
means 'less than all'.
Not all the rabbits died. Some of them survived.
