All the books are not interesting

[billy]

hello,

I have trouble understanding the following sentence:

All the books are not interesting.

Would you explain it to me ? I'd appreciate you doing that.



Billy

[Tdol]

= They are all boring
However, it's not very natural to me.

[Steven D]

Originally Posted by tdol

= They are all boring
However, it's not very natural to me.

I think the intended meaning is:

Not all the books are interesting. Only some of them are.

This idea could be expressed by saying "All the books are not interesting." as well.

Is the definite article necessary in the original sentence? We could only know by seeing it in context.

All books are not intersting. - This could be taken to mean that "There are no books that are interesting." or, "Only some books are interesting."

All "the" books are not interesting. Only some are. It depends on what your interests are.