Dear A H:

You wrote:

a. Dogs don’t like me.

b. Children enjoy bad movies.

c. People do strange things.

d. Dogs attack me these days.

e. People are doing strange things these days.

In the above sentences does the plural noun include a. ALL b. MOST c. SOME of the things it refers to?

This is not really a question about grammar, but one about context. Let us face it, most generalizations are technically inaccurate, because we find exceptions. For example, I am sure that “d” would be incorrect if the speaker came across a very old arthritic dog.

Often such expression are in reaction to a single incident—but the incident stands out to the speaker so much that he or she makes a generalization about it.

Technically, to answer your question, in most cases the answer is probably “some,” but we speak this way for emphasis. As a teacher, I have lost track of how many times I have heard young women say, “I hate men!” If you were to ask them if they hate their father or a beloved uncle, they would admit that, no, they do like some men, but clearly they have had a bad experience with a certain man or group of males recently.

I hope this helps