DETERMINERS

DETERMINERS

FUNCTION AND CLASSES OF DETERMINERS

Function

Determiners are words placed in front of a noun to make it clear what the noun refers to.

The word 'people' by itself is a general reference to some group of human beings. If someone says 'these people', we know which group they are talking about, and if they say 'a lot of people' we know how big the group is.

'These' and 'a lot of' are determiners in these sentences.

Classes of Determiners

There are several classes of determiners:a

Definite and Indefinite articles
the, a, an

Demonstratives
this, that, these, those

Possessives
my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Quantifiers
a few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, some, any, enough, etc.

Numbers
one, ten, thirty, etc.

Distributives
all, both, half, either, neither, each, every

Difference words
other, another

Question words
Which, what, whose

Defining words
which, whose

The following words are pre-determiners. They go before determiners, such as articles: such and what, half, rather, quite

DEFINITE ARTICLE

THE

Articles in English are invariable. That is, they do not change according to the gender or number of the noun they refer to, e.g. the boy, the woman, the children

'The' is used:

1. to refer to something which has already been mentioned.

An elephant and a mouse fell in love.

The mouse loved the elephant's long trunk,
and the elephant loved the mouse's tiny nose.

2. when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before.

'Where's the bathroom?'
'It's on the first floor.'

3. in sentences or clauses where we define or identify a particular person or object:

The man who wrote this book is famous.
'Which car did you scratch?' 'The red one.
My house is the one with a blue door.'

4. to refer to objects we regard as unique:

the sun, the moon, the world

5. before superlatives and ordinal numbers: (see Adjectives)

the highest building, the first page, the last chapter.

6. with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of people:

the Japanese (see Nouns - Nationalities), the old

7. with names of geographical areas and oceans:

the Caribbean, the Sahara, the Atlantic

8. with decades, or groups of years:

she grew up in the seventies

DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES

THE, A, AN

• Definite article: THE
• Indefinite article: A/AN
• Exceptions to using the definite article

EXCEPTIONS TO USING THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

There is no article:

• with names of countries (if singular)
  Germany is an important economic power.
  He's just returned from Zimbabwe.
  (But: I'm visiting the United States next week.)

• with the names of languages
  French is spoken in Tahiti.
  English uses many words of Latin origin.
  Indonesian is a relatively new language.

• with the names of meals.
  Lunch is at midday.
  Dinner is in the evening.
  Breakfast is the first meal of the day.

• with people's names (if singular):
  John's coming to the party.
  George King is my uncle.
  (But: we're having lunch with the Morgans tomorrow.)

• with titles and names:
  Prince Charles is Queen Elizabeth's son.
  President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
  Dr. Watson was Sherlock Holmes' friend.
  (But: the Queen of England, the Pope.)

• After the 's possessive case:
  His brother's car.
  Peter's house.

• with professions:
  Engineering is a useful career.
  He'll probably go into medicine.

• with names of shops:
  I'll get the card at Smith's.
  Can you go to Boots for me?

• with years:
  1948 was a wonderful year.
  Do you remember 1995?

• With uncountable nouns:
  Rice is the main food in Asia.
  Milk is often added to tea in England.
  War is destructive.

• with the names of individual mountains, lakes and islands:
  Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in Alaska.
  She lives near Lake Windermere.
  Have you visited Long Island?

• with most names of towns, streets, stations and airports:
  Victoria Station is in the centre of London.
  Can you direct me to Bond Street?
  She lives in Florence.
  They're flying from Heathrow.

• in some fixed expressions, for example:
• by car
• by train
• by air
• on foot
• on holiday
• on air (in broadcasting)
• at school
• at work
• at University
• in church
• in prison
• in bed

THE DEMONSTRATIVES

THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE

1. Function

The demonstratives this, that, these, those ,show where an object or person is in relation to the speaker.
This (singular) and these (plural) refer to an object or person near the speaker. That (singular) and those (plural) refer to an object or person further away. It can be a physical closeness or distance as in:

• Who owns that house? (distant)
• Is this John's house? (near)

Or it can be a psychological distance as in:

• That's nothing to do with me.. (distant)
• This is a nice surprise! (near)

2. Position

• Before the noun.
• Before the word 'one'.
• Before an adjective + noun.
• Alone when the noun is 'understood'.

Examples:

• This car looks cleaner than that one.
• This old world keeps turning round
• Do you remember that wonderful day in June?
• I'll never forget this.

THE POSSESSIVES

Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives show who the thing belongs to.

PERSON		ADJECTIVES	PRONOUNS
1st	(I)	my	mine
2nd	(you)	your	yours
3rd	(he)	his	his
	(she)	her	hers
	(it)	it	its
Plural
1st	(we)	our	ours
2nd	(you)	your	yours
3rd	(they)	their	theirs

NOTE: In English, possessive adjectives and pronouns refer to the possessor, not the object or person that is possessed.

Examples

• Jane's brother is married to John's sister.
• Her brother is married to his sister.
• Peter and his sister.
• Jane and her father.
• Do you know where your books are?
• Is this their picnic? No, it is ours.
• I think this is your passport. Yes, it is mine.

THE QUANTIFIERS

Quantifiers are adjectives and adjectival phrases that give approximate answers to the questions "How much?" and "How many?"

Examples

I've got a little money.
I've got a lot of friends.

• Numbers: Ordinal and Cardinal, percentages
• Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns
• A few and few, a little and little
• Some and any
• Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO
• Graded Quantifiers
• Enough + Noun

THE QUANTIFIERS

Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Adjectives and adjectival phrases that describe quantity are shown below. Some can only go with countable nouns (friends, cups, people), and some can only go with uncountable nouns (sugar, tea, money, advice). The words in the middle column can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Only with uncountable nouns	With uncountable and countable nouns	Only with countable nouns
How much?	How much? or How many?	How many?
a little	no/none	a few
a bit (of)	not any	a number (of)
-	some (any)	several
a great deal of	a lot of	a large number of
a large amount of	plenty of	a great number of
-	lots of	-
+ noun

Note: much and many are used in negative and question forms.

Examples

• How much money have you got?
• How many cigarettes have you smoked?
• There's not much sugar in the cupboard.
• There weren't many people at the concert.

They are also used with too, (not) so, and (not) as :There were too many people at the concert - we couldn't see the band.
It's a problem when there are so many people.
There's not so much work to do this week.

In positive statements, we use a lot of:

Examples

• I've got a lot of work this week.
• There were a lot of people at the concert.

THE QUANTIFIERS

A few and few, a little and little

These expressions show the speaker's attitude towards the quantity he/she is referring to.

A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way:

Examples

• "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough)
• "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on)

Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:

Examples

• Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost no visitors)
• He had little money (= almost no money)

THE QUANTIFIERS

Some and Any

Some and any are used with countable and uncountable nouns, to describe an indefinite or incomplete quantity.

Some is used in positive statements:

Examples

• I had some rice for lunch
• He's got some books from the library.

It is also used in questions where we are sure about the answer:

Examples

• Did he give you some tea? (= I'm sure he did.)
• Is there some fruit juice in the fridge? (= I think there is)

Some is used in situations where the question is not a request for information, but a method of making a request, encouraging or giving an invitation:

Examples

• Could I have some books, please?
• Why don't you take some books home with you?
• Would you like some books?

Any is used in questions and with not in negative statements:

Examples

• Have you got any tea?
• He didn't give me any tea.
• I don't think we've got any coffee left.

SOME in positive sentences.

Examples

• I will have some news next week.
• She has some valuable books in her house.
• Philip wants some help with his exams.
• There is some butter in the fridge.
• We need some cheese if we want to make a fondue.

SOME in questions:

Examples

• Would you like some help?
• Will you have some more roast beef?

ANY in negative sentences

Examples

• She doesn't want any kitchen appliances for Christmas.
• They don't want any help moving to their new house.
• No, thank you. I don't want any more cake.
• There isn't any reason to complain.

ANY in interrogative sentences

Examples

• Do you have any friends in London?
• Have they got any children?
• Do you want any groceries from the shop?
• Are there any problems with your work?

THE QUANTIFIERS

Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO

Some +	-thing	-body	-one	-where
Any +
No +

Compound nouns with some- and any- are used in the same way as some and any.

Positive statements:

Examples

• Someone is sleeping in my bed.
• He saw something in the garden.
• I left my glasses somewhere in the house.

Questions:

Examples

• Are you looking for someone? (= I'm sure you are)
• Have you lost something? (= I'm sure you have)
• Is there anything to eat? (real question)
• Did you go anywhere last night?

Negative statements:

Examples

• She didn't go anywhere last night.
• He doesn't know anybody here.

NOTICE that there is a difference in emphasis between nothing, nobody etc. and not ... anything, not ... anybody:

Examples

• I don't know anything about it. (= neutral, no emphasis)
• I know nothing about it (= more emphatic, maybe defensive)

SOMETHING, SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE

Examples

• I have something to tell you.
• There is something to drink in the fridge.
• He knows somebody in New York
• Susie has somebody staying with her.
• They want to go somewhere hot for their holidays.
• Keith is looking for somewhere to live.

ANYBODY, ANYTHING, ANYWHERE

Examples

• Is there anybody who speaks English here?
• Does anybody have the time?
• Is there anything to eat?
• Have you anything to say?
• He doesn't have anything to stay tonight.
• I wouldn't eat anything except at Maxim's.

NOBODY, NOTHING, NOWHERE

Examples

• There is nobody in the house at the moment
• When I arrived there was nobody to meet me.
• I have learnt nothing since I began the course.
• There is nothing to eat.
• There is nowhere as beautiful as Paris in the Spring.
• Homeless people have nowhere to go at night.

ANY can also be used in positive statements to mean 'no matter which', 'no matter who', 'no matter what':

Examples

• You can borrow any of my books.
• They can choose anything from the menu.
• You may invite anybody to dinner, I don't mind.

THE QUANTIFIERS

Graded Quantifiers

They function like comparatives and hold a relative position on a scale of increase or decrease.

INCREASE From 0% to 100%
With plural countable nouns:
many	more	most
With uncountable nouns:
much	more	most
DECREASE From 100% to 0%
With plural countable nouns:
few	fewer	fewest
With uncountable nouns:
little	less	least

Examples

• There are many people in England, more in India, but the most people live in China.
• Much time and money is spent on education, more on health services but the most is spent on national defence.
• Few rivers in Europe are not polluted.
• Fewer people die young now than in the seventeenth century.
• The country with the fewest people per square kilometre must be Australia.
• Scientists have little hope of finding a complete cure for cancer before the year 2,000.
• She had less time to study than Paul but had better results.
• Give that dog the least opportunity and it will bite you.

THE QUANTIFIERS

Enough + Noun

Enough is placed before the noun, to indicate the quantity required or necessary:

Examples

• There is enough bread for lunch.
• She has enough money.

Enough is also used with adjectives and adverbs - see these sections.

Examples

• We didn't have enough time to visit London Bridge.
• Are there enough eggs to make an omelette?
• Richard has enough talent to become a singing star.

Numbers

The Quantifiers: talking about numbers in English

CARDINAL and ORDINAL NUMBERS

The cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring to quantity, and the ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer to distribution.

Number	Cardinal	Ordinal
1	one	first
2	two	second
3	three	third
4	four	fourth
5	five	fifth
6	six	sixth
7	seven	seventh
8	eight	eighth
9	nine	ninth
10	ten	tenth
11	eleven	eleventh
12	twelve	twelfth
13	thirteen	thirteenth
14	fourteen	fourteenth
15	fifteen	fifteenth
16	sixteen	sixteenth
17	seventeen	seventeenth
18	eighteen	eighteenth
19	nineteen	nineteenth
20	twenty	twentieth
21	twenty-one	twenty-first
22	twenty-two	twenty-second
23	twenty-three	twenty-third
24	twenty-four	twenty-fourth
25	twenty-five	twenty-fifth
26	twenty-six	twenty-sixth
27	twenty-seven	twenty-seventh
28	twenty-eight	twenty-eighth
29	twenty-nine	twenty-ninth
30	thirty	thirtieth
31	thirty-one	thirty-first
40	forty	fortieth
50	fifty	fiftieth
60	sixty	sixtieth
70	seventy	seventieth
80	eighty	eightieth
90	ninety	ninetieth
100	one hundred	hundredth
500	five hundred	five hundredth
1,000	one thousand	thousandth
100,000	one hundred thousand	hundred thousandth
1,000,000	one million	millionth

Examples:

• There are twenty-five people in the room.
• He was the fourteenth person to win the award since 1934.
• Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
• I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
• He went to Israel for the third time this year.

Fractions and decimals

Said	Written	Said
half	0.5	point five
a quarter	0.25	point two five
three quarters	0.75	point seven five

Percentages

Written	Said
25%	twenty five percent
50%	fifty percent
75%	seventy five percent
100%	a/one hundred percent

Units

Written	Said
$1,200	one thousand two hundred dollars
£16,486	sixteen thousand four hundred and eighty-six pounds
545kms	five hundred and forty-five kilometres
$25.35	twenty-five dollars thirty-five

Years

Written	Said
1988	Nineteen eighty-eight
1864	Eighteen sixty-four
1999	Nineteen ninety-nine

How to say '0'

nought	used in mathematical expressions and decimals: 'nought times three equals nought' 0.3 = 'nought point three' (or 'point three') 0.03 = 'point nought three'
zero	used in scientific expressions, especially temperatures: 20oC = minus twenty degrees or twenty degrees below zero also used to mean 'the lowest point': 'The heavy rain reduced visibility to zero'
'o' (the letter)	used in telephone numbers: 0171 390 0062 = 'o one seven one three nine o double o six two'
nil/nothing	used to express the score in games such as football: 2 - 0 = 'two nil' or 'two nothing'

THE DISTRIBUTIVES

• ALL, BOTH, HALF
• EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These words refer to a group of people or things, and to individual members of the group. They show different ways of looking at the individuals within a group, and they express how something is distributed, shared or divided.

THE DISTRIBUTIVES

ALL, BOTH, HALF

These words can be used in the following ways:

ALL +

1 2 3 4a 4b

- the my, your, etc. this, that these, those

Uncountable noun or Countable noun in the plural Uncountable noun Countable noun in the plural

Examples
1.	All cheese contains protein All children need affection
2.	All the people in the room were silent. Have you eaten all the bread?
3.	I've invited all my friends to the party. I've been waiting all my life for this opportunity.
4a.	Who's left all this paper on my desk?
4b.	Look at all those balloons!
BOTH +	1 2 3 4	- the my, your, etc. these, those	Countable noun in the plural

	Example
	1.	Both children were born in Italy.
	2.	He has crashed both (of) the cars.
	3.	Both (of) my parents have fair hair.
	4	You can take both (of) these books back to the library. See note below
HALF +		1 2 3 4	a the my, your, etc. this, that, these, those	Uncountable or countable noun

Example
1.	I bought half a kilo of apples yesterday.
2.	You can have half (of) the cake. She gave me half (of) the apples.
3.	I've already given you half (of) my money. Half (of) his books were in French.
4	Half (of) these snakes are harmless You can take half (of) this sugar.

NOTE: All, both, half + OF: 'OF' must be added when followed by a pronoun:

All of you; both of us; half of them
It is also quite common to add it in most of the above situations except when there is no article (No.1 in all the tables above.)

THE DISTRIBUTIVES

EACH, EVERY, EITHER, NEITHER

These distributive words are normally used with singular nouns, and are placed before the noun.

Each, either and neither can be used with plural nouns but must be followed by 'of':

Each is a way of seeing the members of a group as individuals:

• Each child received a present.
• Each of the children received a present.

Every is a way of seeing a group as a series of members:

• Every child in the world deserves affection.

It can also express different points in a series, especially with time expressions:

• Every third morning John goes jogging.
• This magazine is published every other week.

Either and Neither are concerned with distribution between two things - either is positive, neither is negative:

• Which chair do you want? Either chair will do.
• I can stay at either hotel, they are both good
• There are two chairs here. You can take either of them.
• Neither chair is any good, they're both too small.
• Which chair do you want? Neither of them - they're both too small.

DIFFERENCE WORDS

OTHER, ANOTHER

These words refer to something different, remaining, or additional.

They are placed before the noun.

Another is used with singular nouns.

Other with singular or plural.

• There are other jobs you could try.
• Where's the other packet of cereals?
• Is there any other bread?
• Have another cup of tea.

QUESTION WORDS

WHICH, WHAT, WHOSE

In questions, these words ask which thing or person is being referred to. They are placed before the noun.

• Which dress are you going to wear tonight?
• What colour is your dress?
• Whose car are you going to use?

DEFINING WORDS

WHICH AND WHOSE

In a statement, these words define or explain which thing or person is referred to:

Examples

• He went back to the house. (Which house?) The house which stood on the corner. = He went back to the house which stood on the corner.
• I saw the man. (Which man?) The man whose car you damaged. = I saw the man whose car you damaged.

• He couldn't remember which film he had seen.
• That's the man whose wife works in my office.
• Tell me which coffee you like.
• The woman whose dog bit you is at the door.

PRE-DETERMINERS

SUCH, WHAT, RATHER, QUITE

These words are normally placed before the indefinite article.

Such and what are often used to express surprise or other emotions:

Examples

• What a lovely day!
• She's such a lovely woman!
• What an incredible film!
• He's such a fantastic guitarist!

Rather and quite are 'commenting' words, referring to the degree of a particular quality. They can express disappointment, pleasure, or other emotions, and are used before a/an + adjective + noun:

Examples

• It's rather a small car. (= I'm a bit disappointed because it's small)
• It was quite a nice day.(= I was agreeably surprised.)
• He's had quite a bad accident. (= I'm worried)
• I've just met rather a nice man. (= I'm pleased)