Unrestricted ʿāmm: A general text for which no valid exclusion has been established; its original scope remains binding and is not displaced by mere conjectural analogy.
Specified ʿāmm: A general text from which some cases have been validly removed; the remainder can still be binding, but additional possibility and rules of further specification become relevant.
Method: Identify the original general wording; establish any specifying proof; identify the excluded members; assess the force of the remainder; and then consider the rank of any competing evidence.
This sequence reveals the actual methodological dispute in examples involving recitation, slaughter, breastfeeding and other legal consequences.