[Grammar] All...are not? Not...all are?

[caronmi]

Hi, I've always been struggling to distinguish the total negation and partial negation. For example, the sentences 1 and 2 listed below, which means "we should admire no celebrity" and which means "some celebrities deserve our admiration but some don't"? And please help me correct these four sentences if there's any mistake.
Thanks in advance.


1. All celebrities do not deserve our admiration.
2. Not all celebrities deserve our admiration.
3. None of the celebrities deserve our admiration.
4. No celebrity deserves (/celebrities deserve?)our admiration.

 

[5jj]

1. All celebrities do not deserve our admiration.
2. Not all celebrities deserve our admiration.
3. None of the celebrities deserve our admiration.
4. No celebrity deserves (/celebrities deserve?)our admiration.

You are in a field in which students of logic and those of language may well come up with different answers. The former are far more precise in their use of language in this type of sentence than the latter. So, I write as an ordinary native speaker when I give my answers below, not as a logician.

1. This is unlikely to be used by most speakers.
2. It is clear that some celebrities do not deserve our admiration.
3. Unusual, We's probably qualify 'the celebrities' - 'None of the celebrities I've met deserve our admiration, for example.
4. No celebrity deserves/No celebrities deserve..... The plural noun is more likely.

 

[caronmi]

1. This is unlikely to be used by most speakers.

Thanks very much for the detailed explanation. Then can I consider that Sentence 1 does not make any sense, and under any circumstance we should use Sentence 2 instead?

 

[5jj]

Thanks very much for the detailed explanation. Then can I consider that Sentence 1 does not make any sense, and under any circumstance we should use Sentence 2 instead?

I would advise you not to use sentence 1, because, outside the Logic classroom, it can be ambiguous. That is rather different from saying it doesn't make sense.

If you wish to use 'all' in a sentence meaning "some celebrities do not deserve our admiration", then #2 is clear.

 

[BobK]

I would advise you not to use sentence 1, because, outside the Logic classroom, it can be ambiguous. That is rather different from saying it doesn't make sense.

If you wish to use 'all' in a sentence meaning "some celebrities do not deserve our admiration", then #2 is clear.

:up: Exactly. Not wrong, just ambiguous (and therefore not advisable).

b