Difference between 'all' and 'all the'

I came across people using all the in sentences instead of all.

Select the type of user to view all the users of that type. All the users of the selected role are displayed.

I usually strike out the after all. Is there any justification that I can give my team on why the seems out of place in the above example? Are there any rules of grammar for or against using the article after all?

Solution 1:

This has nothing to do with "all" and everything to do with "the".

You should use "the" wherever a definite article is required. ("The" is a definite article as opposed to "a/an" which are indefinite articles)

EXAMPLE

For example, if I say, "Let's read the book," I mean a specific book. If I say, "Let's read a book," I mean any book rather than a specific book.

Here's another way to explain it: The is used to refer to a specific or particular member of a group. For example, "I just saw the most popular movie of the year." There are many movies, but only one particular movie is the most popular. Therefore, we use the.

PS: You can say, "Lets read all the books." This is because you know which lot of books you are referring to. On the other hand, "Let's read all books" - sounds odd!!

Solution 2:

All the users and all of the users are interchangeable. With the, the reference is to specific items (e.g. the users of this program).

However, all users is general, referring to every user in the world. It is not interchangeable with all the users/all of the users.

Solution 3:

In a limited universe of discourse (eg a particular system), there may be little to choose between "all the users" and "all users".

In a context which is not so limited, there could be a great difference, as Prateek explained.