In English, words are grouped into word classes based on the function they perform in a sentence. There are nine main word classes in English; nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, determiners, conjunctions, and interjections. This explanation is all about determiners.
What is a determiner?
A determiner is a word that specifies a noun by giving more information about its location, quantity, or ownership. Determiners require a noun to go alongside them; they can't stand on their own (poor things!). Therefore, all determiners come before a noun or a noun phrase.
There aren't that many determiners in English and they are specific words that are easy to spot. Let's take a look at some examples now.
Examples of determiners
Determiners are words that come before a noun or a noun phrase to provide specific information. For example:
- This cat is lazy
- Every book is precious
- I need a holiday
- It will be the best holiday ever
- Go to your room!
- I bought three packets of Haribo
Example: This cat is lazy
What are the 6 types of determiners?
In this article we will cover the six main types of determiners, which are:
Articles
Articles are words used to determine (refer to) a noun. There are two articles in the English language, these are called the definite article and the indefinite article.
What is the definite article?
The word 'the' is a definite article. We use the definite article when we talk about a noun that is specific or certain. For example, before nouns that have previously been mentioned or are presumed to be known by the reader, or before something that is unique, such as the moon.
The cake over there is the one I want.
The sun is hot.
Don't close the door. (Here a specific door is being referred to. The person can close some doors, but not this one!)
What is the indefinite article?
The indefinite article is 'a' or 'an'. It is used before a general noun that is likely not known or not previously mentioned to the reader. For example, in the sentence 'a man was angry', the indefinite article 'a' conveys the idea of a 'general' man rather than someone 'specific'.
I want a drink.
There is a chair somehwere.
Pass me a pen; any pen will do!
Demonstrative determiners
Demonstrative determiners are determiners that specify a noun or noun phrase. In other words, they point to the thing or person that they mention. There are four demonstrative determiners in English, these are:
Proximity and distance play an important role when it comes to demonstratives. 'This' and 'these' suggest closer proximity (i.e. things close by), whereas 'that' and 'those' suggest distance.
For example, the word 'this' in the sentence 'This drink is disgusting!' suggests that the speaker is 'pointing to' something close and personal to them. The word 'that' in the sentence 'That drink is disgusting!' suggests that the drink is further away or maybe somebody else's.
It's easy to get mixed up between demonstrative determiners and demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns replace the noun, eg. 'that is yellow' whereas demonstrative determiners are always used alongside the noun, eg. 'that banana is yellow'.
If you are really stuck in an exam you can use the word 'demonstrative'.
Possessive determiners
Possessive determiners are determiners that show ownership, hence the word 'possessive'. The possessive determiners are:
my
yours
his
hers
its
our
their
For example, in the sentence 'My dog sleeps in her king-sized bed', the possessive determiners 'my' and 'her' show ownership over the noun. The dog belongs to me (my dog), and the bed belongs to the dog (her king-sized bed).
Possessive determiners also include possessive forms of nouns, pronouns, or noun phrases - we usually create these by adding the inflection '-s'. For example, 'the dog’s ball', 'Sarah’s coat', or 'the fat cat’s dinner'.
Example: The dogs sleep in their bed
Interrogative determiners
Interrogative determiners are used to formulate questions. They help to specify what the question is about and what type of information is being asked for. There are three interrogative determiners in English:
The interrogative determiner 'whose' asks the question 'who does the thing belong to?'. For example, 'Whose cat is stuck in the tree?' or 'Whose car is the quickest?'. The answer is often a person, eg. 'Sophie's cat is stuck in the tree'.
The interrogative determiner 'which' asks for someone to specify one or more person/things from a set of people/things. For example, 'Which colour do you prefer, blue or red?' or 'Which Friends character is your favourite?'. These sentences ask for a choice between a set of things.
The interrogative determiner 'what' asks for information about a noun. For example, 'What colour is her hair?' or 'What time is it?'. Here, the person is asking for more information about someone's hair colour, and more information about the time.
Remember that determiners always come before a noun or noun phrase. If the interrogative does not come before a noun but rather replaces the noun, e.g. 'whose is this?', then it is a pronoun.
Quantifiers
A quantifier is a word that gives information about the quantity of a noun, i.e. 'how much?' or 'how many?'. Like all determiners, they come in front of a noun or noun phrase. Some examples of quantifiers in English are:
everything
every
any
many
most
a few
some
a lot of
none
either
These are all words that give an idea of quantity on a scale of 0% (e.g none) to 100% ( e.g. all/every). For example, 'I have a lot of books in my room' or 'I've spent all my money on books'. In these sentences, the quantifier 'a lot of' comes before the noun 'books' and the quantifier 'all' comes before the noun phrase 'my money'.
Numbers as determiners
Demonstratives also include the cardinal numbers (e.g. one cup, two cups, three cups, etc.) which give information about the exact quantity of a noun. They can be thought of as counting numbers.
Demonstratives also include ordinal numbers such as 'first', 'second', 'third'. Ordinals describe the numerical position of the noun, often ending in 'th' or'nd' (eg. 'She won fourth prize', 'He bought his second cat', 'It is my thousandth day in lockdown').
Determiner - key takeaways
- A determiner is a word that specifies a noun and gives more information about location, quantity, or ownership.
- Determiners always come before a noun or a noun phrase. If the word replaces the noun then it is most likely to be a pronoun.
- There are six main types of determiners; articles, demonstratives, possessive determiners, interrogative determiners, quantifiers, and determiners as numbers.
- Articles are words that determine a noun. They are the/a/an.
- Demonstrative determiners point to the thing that they mention. They are this/these/that/those.
- Possessive determiners show ownership. For example, my/his/hers/their.
- Interrogative determiners are used to formulate questions. They are whose.what/which
- Quantifiers give information about the quantity of a noun. They include words such as some, any, none/all as well as cardinal and ordinal numbers (e.g. one, two, three, first, second, third).
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