DETERMINER DEFINITION

What are determiners in English?

Determiners are a kind of noun modifier; they precede and are necessarily followed by nouns. While adjectives perform a similar function, the term ‘determiner’ refers to a relatively limited set of well-established words that can be said to ‘mark’ nouns.

The function of determiners is to ‘express reference’; i.e. they clarify what a noun is referring to. For example, when one says ‘that box’, the listener knows which box is being referred to.

 

Articles

Articles are among the most common of the determiners. There are three singular articles: a, an, and the. Articles specify (or determine) which noun the speaker is referring to. A and an are indefinite articles and are used when you are talking about a general version of the noun. For example:

·         A dog is a good pet.

·         An ostrich would beat a chicken in a race.

In these examples, the sentence is talking about dogs or ostriches in general, meaning any dog. When your meaning is general, use an indefinite article. Note that a is used before words that begin with consonants while an is used before words beginning with vowels.

On the other hand, the is a definite article, meaning the speaker is referring to a specific noun. For example:

·         We went to the best restaurant in town.

·         The dog is barking too loudly.

Here the speaker is referring to a particular dog and a particular restaurant. It's not a general category, but only one animal or place that's important. When your meaning is specific, use a definite article.




Demonstratives

Demonstrative pronouns are also used as determiners in English. There are four of them: this, that, these and those. Demonstratives are used in a situation in which the speaker can point to the item they mean, making them even more specific than a definite article. For example:

·         Do you want this piece of chicken?

·         I don't want to go to that movie.

·         These black raspberries are sour.

·         He wanted those boys to go away.

This and these refer to items nearby; that and those refer to items far away. Note also that this and that are singular while these and those are plural.

Quantifiers

What are quantifiers?

Quantifiers form a sub-class under determiners. They are adjectives or phrases that serve to answer two possible questions:

1. How many?

2. and How much?

Quantifier Usage:

  • It is used to describe quantity.
  • It is used to express attitude.

For examples:

  • much
  • a little/little/very little *
  • a bit (of)
  • a great deal of
  • all
  • enough
  • many
  • a few/few/very few **
  • a number (of)

Possessives

Possessive pronouns and adjectives indicate who an object belongs to.

The pronouns are:

  • mine (first person: This car is mine = I own this car)
  • yours (second person: This car is yours = You own this car)
  • his, hers, and its (third person: This cars is his/hers = He/she owns this car).

The corresponding adjectives are:

  • my
  • your
  • his, her, and it



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