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This is from Minna no Nihongo Chapter 15. It's a description of Santa Claus.

> でも世界の子供はみんな私を知っています。

みんな seems like a counter of sorts (I don't know how else to describe it) for
世界の子供. I always thought it was of the same grammatical category as 彼 and 彼女.
So is みんな basically a "counter"? All the time? Most of the time? Depends on
the situation?
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2012-12-16T07:14:59.517
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2019-09-02T01:07:09.930
2019-09-02T01:07:09.930
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question
syntax counters
Is みんな being used as a "counter"?
I think 皆{みんな} can mean "all" when used adverbially, as well as "everyone" or
"everything":

> でも世界の子供はみんな私を知っています。  
>  "But the children of the world all know me."

You can also use みんな to refer to more than people:

> チーズは皆食べられてしまった  
>  "All of the cheese has been eaten."

There's some more examples at the Yahoo dictionary definition for
[皆{みな}](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&stype=0&dtype=3&p=%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AA)
(for information on the difference between 皆{みんな} and 皆{みな}, see also [How do
you know when to use みな or
みんな?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4134/how-do-you-know-when-
to-use-%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AA-or-%E3%81%BF%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA))
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2012-12-16T07:45:49.783
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2012-12-16T22:52:01.047
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answer