Definite or indefinite article for non-singletons?

[Cameron Simpson]

On 28Jul2019 10:32, Peter Otten <__peter__ at web.de> wrote:
>Chris Angelico wrote:
>
>> When talking about indistinguishable objects, is it correct to talk
>> about "the <x>" or "an <x>"?
>>
>> Example:
>>
>> def f(s):
>>     """Frob a thing.
>>
>>     If s is an empty string, frobs all the things.
>>     OR
>>     If s is the empty string, frobs all the things.
>>     """
>
>Slightly OT:
>
>While I would write "an empty string" but happily accept "the empty string"
>I stumbled upon "all *the* things". Shouldn't it be "all things"?
>
>Real question as I'm not a native speaker.

The collection is "the things". "all" qualifies it, versus, say, "some 
of the things" or "the first of the things" etc.

You do also get "all things". It is less common. It tends to mean _all_ 
things, not just the ones here. So "all people" means everyone 
everywhere. But "all the people" usually refers to some specific group.  
What group depends on context.

So some examples:

    def f(s, things):
      ''' Frob the things.
      '''

I would expect to frob the things passed as the parameter (thus, the 
context).

Versus:

    class Thing:
      ...

    def f(s):
      ''' Frob all Things.
      '''

I would expect there to be some global registry of Thing instances, and 
to frob them all.

Chris' example is a bit incomplete because there's no context to 
indicate what group "the things" comprise.

Cheers,
Cameron Simpson <cs at cskk.id.au>