While writing a sentence , I used all of my books , I got stuck with the usage of "of".
Which of the two shall I write:
all of my books
vs
all my books
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2One or the other. They're both just fine and there's no difference between them. This is the patter for all. For each, however, you can't omit the of: Each of my books is marked is OK, but not Each my books is marked. With every, there's a different pattern: Every book is marked is OK, but not Every of my book(s) or Every my book(s), though Every one of my books is fine. Don't think of markers like auxiliary verbs, particles, articles, quantifiers, complementizers, or prepositions as being separate from the constructions they're in. They're part of the machinery. – John Lawler Nov 21 '14 at 21:00
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When a noun is preceded by an adjective or by the, it’s leaner and cleaner to drop the of in all of:
- all my books
- all the lessons of history.
When a pronoun is involved, the of is essential, as in phrases like:
- all of it
- all of us
When a possessive noun is preceded by a or an,the 'of' is required:
- all of a book’s wisdom
- all of history’s lessons
Misti
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