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I am not sure whether any of these are wrong or simply unidiomatic.

1 One of his all cars is black.

2 One of all his cars is black.

3 One of all of his cars is black.

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1 Answer 1

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A noun phrase usually has just one determiner. So expressions like "The my apple" are incorrect. But "all" can function as a determiner or as a "pre-determiner" So "all apples" or "all my apples" are both correct. But "my all apples" is incorrect.

"One of" and "all of" and "all" are pre-determinative, but "his" isn't. So (1) is a grammar error. 2 and 3 are merely un-idiomatic.

There is no semantic purpose of "all" or "all of" in these sentences. It doesn't mean anything. So the only idiomatic phrase would be "One of his cars"

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  • You would only use all if you wanted to point out that something applied to only one of a large number of things. "Of all the cars repaired by the garage that week, only one was pink." Feb 9 at 9:54
  • Optional all is effectively an "intensifier" here - stressing the large size of the "pool" from which something is "selected". Idiomatically it almost always occurs in conjunction with another intensifier such as only, just, merely,..., stressing the small size / amount of the actual selection (just one of all the many possibilities). Feb 9 at 14:10
  • Why is it that "all her children" is correct? - "And she told all her children, "OK. This is David's space, OK?"
    – user1425
    Feb 18 at 9:58
  • 1
    All= predeterminer, her= determiner. "All her children" is correct for exactly the reason that "All my apples" is correct, as given above.
    – James K
    Feb 18 at 11:32

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