Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <grammar><articles><definite-article>
Title: Why does "money" take "the" in "all the money in the world"?
Question: "All the money in the world " , in this sentence we talk about money in general , right ? I've read a book that says if we're talking about  things in general we do not use "the".So why "the money" ?

Answers:
sents: text: This sentence is not talking about money in general.
text: It is talking about a specific set: "all the money in the world ",
text: as if it was a specific quantity you could receive: Suppose I gave you a box with all the money in the world .
text: How would you choose to distribute it?
text: Other examples talking about a specific set of money:
text: Do you still have the money I gave you for your birthday?
text: The money donated to charities should be included on your tax forms, if you want to take the deduction.
text: It is possible to talk about money as a concept , in which case you would not use the definite article.
text: Examples of this:
text: I don't care too much for money , and money can't buy me love --
text: John Lennon /
text: Paul McCartney A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.
text: --Jonathan
text: Swift Money is a terrible master but an excellent servant.
text: --P.T.
text: Barnum
text: It is possible to say "all money in the world" to reference the global concept of money, rather than a specific quantity .
text: All money in the world , in whatever form, relies on the collective agreement that it is worth something.
text: Even a brick of gold has no value to a starving man, unless he can exchange it for food.
text: [Edit]
text: With regard to FumbleFinger's objection: I would claim "money donated to charities" is either a kind of ellipsis, or else refers to a conceptual subset of the concept of money.
text: In my example, it makes little difference whether I'm talking in general about the practice of donating money, or of a specific instance of some quantity donated.
text: The second half of the sentence applies either way.
text: Conceptual example :
text: Money (which has been generally) donated to charities should be declared.
text: Ellipsis example : (The specific quantity of) Money (which you have) donated to charities should be declared.
text: I think a more in-depth exploration is out of the scope of the question, as OP asks only what the definite article means in this context, and not whether the definite article is required .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/42184/Andrew
score: 23
sents: text: You have misunderstood what was meant in that book by "in general".
text: In this sentence, we are speaking of money and water in general terms:
text: Money is an alternative to barter.
text: Water is necessary for life.
text: But here, even though we are speaking of "all", we're still speaking of the thing in particular : All the water in the watering hole dries up during the summer dry season.
text: All the money in the world couldn't get me to do that.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/10264/Tᴚoɯɐuo
score: 5
sents: text: I don't know what book told you that, but it's not the truth.
text: 1 Fact is, there are several reasons we might use the definite article.
text: Macmillan (definition 1b) says: used when you are referring to familiar things that people deal with
text: regularly I looked up at the ceiling;
text: suddenly all the lights went out Many familiar adages and expressions use the definite article even though they talk about things in general.
text: Consider: The lion is king of the jungle.
text: Top of the morning to you!
text: It hit me right between the eyes.
text: Religion is the opiate of the masses.
text: All the news that's fit to print.
text: 1 See what I did there?
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/113/J.R.
score: 4
sents: text: Ditto Andrew's excellent answer, let me just add: Don't get confused by the difference between how something is in the real world, and how it is grammatically.
text: Yes, in real life, "all the money in the world" is, well, all the money that exists.
text: Logically, you might say that it's the same as "money" as a general concept.
text: But GRAMMATICALLY, "all the money in the world" is NOT all money that exists, it's a specific set of money, namely, the money that is "in the world".
text: While in real life that may be all money, grammatically it is not.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/803/Jay
score: 3
sents: text: The big, fancy language scholar term for this particular use of the definite article, "the", is " modadic "—
text: the as in the one and only .
text: From your example, rephrased: There is only one collection of all money in the one and only world.
text: Reference: 8.
text: Monadic ("One of a Kind" or "Unique") The Article
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/85693/Jesse Steele
score: 2
sents: text: All the money in the world would not make you happy.
text: We only have one specific world, and all the money in it is very specific.
text: Having money in the bank is a good thing, if its yours.
text: [non-specific] And: The money I have in the bank is none of your business.
text: [specific] Please note: for certain expressions such as money in the bank, a the is used with bank.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/33113/Lambie
score: 1
sents: text: There is a word elided which will make parsing the phrase easier: All of the money in the world "Of money" is wrong for different reasons -- the preposition requires more than just a bare noun.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/30533/arp
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
This sentence is not talking about money in general, but about a specific set of money: "all  the  money  in the world ". It is possible to say "all money in the world" to reference the global  concept  of money, rather than a specific  quantity. 
This is not talking about money as a general concept, but rather as a specific amount (all of the money existing in the entire world). A general usage could be "All money in the world, in whatever form", where it refers to anything called money rather than the sum of all money.