Comment by abraxas
1 hour ago
The word "cases" is already plural. Why does it need an article in front of it? It's one of the usages that trip me up. Why isn't it just "all cases"?
1 hour ago
The word "cases" is already plural. Why does it need an article in front of it? It's one of the usages that trip me up. Why isn't it just "all cases"?
We frequently use definite articles with plurals. It simply identifies a bounded or known set.
* I understand all languages. -- unbounded set, applies to every language, everywhere
* I understand all the languages. -- bounded set, applies to a known set of languages, i.e. specifically those languages which are supported by a particular program
To be fair, I think "all cases" in this situation is also acceptable.
It seems like a shortening of "all of the cases", but I'm not a native speaker.