Determiners, Detailed Expression and Examples
Determiners can be grouped under several groups;
Table of Contents
Quantifiers
Quantifiers report quantity. Words like ‘one’, ‘many’, ‘much’, ‘some’ is examples of quantifiers. Quantifiers are separated into countable and uncountable.
Countable nouns are used as singular or plural. Uncountable nouns do not have a plural form and they are being used with a singular verb. Single words can not be used with these expressions.
Many, Much, Any, Some, A lot of, Lots of
Any, some, a lot of / lots of are used with both countable plural and uncountable nouns. The word “many” is used only with plural and “much” is used with uncountable nouns. Generally, the word of “any” is used in questions and negative sentences.
Example;
- Are there any wild animals in this forest?
- No, there aren’t any.
The word of “some” is used with countable plural or uncountable nouns. When used with countable nouns, it means a few, and when used with uncountable nouns, it gives a little meaning. A lot of / lots of is used with countable plural or uncountable nouns. It means a lot in a sentence.
Example;
- Is there any people in the wedding?
- Yes, there is many people in the wedding.
How many, how much questions are used when asking quantity.
- How many people were there at the party?
- There were a lot.
- How much money do we have?
- We don’t have much.
Few / a few, little / a little
Few / a few are used with countable plural nouns. The other point is, little / a little is be used with uncountable nouns.
Possessive Adjectives
The -s tag or ‘of’ is used to declare ownership. Usually, the ‘s’ tag is used for living beings and the ‘of’ is being used for lifeless beings. The -s tag can sometimes be used for inanimate beings. Organization names, country, city names can receive -s tag.
Example;
- Environmental pollution is the city’s biggest problem.
In some long descriptions, “of” can also be used for people.
Example;
- I want to write an essay about life of my father.
My, your, his, our, their, its are possessive adjectives. They are used with a noun.
Example;
- My aim is to study harder this for exam.
Demonstratives
They are words used to indicate something. That and this are used with singular, those and these plural nouns. This and these represent the relative, that and those represent the remote.
Examples;
- These are my shoes.
- That new mobile is Jason’s.
Articles
They precede the nouns and are used in undefined expressions.
A / an is used only with countable singular nouns. Those who start with the consonant letter have “a” tag at the beginning of the word, and nouns that begin with a vowel that will have ”an” tag at the beginning of the word. A / an is usually used when expressing what an object is. We cannot use countable singular nouns alone.
Example;
- I saw an accident of a car.
If we are talking about a specific object, “the” is used. Countable singular or plural and can be used with all uncountable nouns. If we are talking about an unknown object or person a / an, but if specified, “ the” is used.
Example;
- Yesterday, I bought a blouse and a skirt. The blouse was surprisingly cheap, but the skirt was more expensive.
The word “the” is used to refer to objects in the environment in which the conversation takes place.
Example;
- Don’t forget to turn off the television before you go out.
Predeterminers
They come before the determinants. Words such as all, whole, none, half, rather, quite, such are predetermined.
The word of “all” is used with countable singular and plural, uncountable nouns.
Example;
- All nations want to be independent.
The word of “whole” is used with countable singular nouns.
Example;
- I read the whole book in just two hours.
The word of “none” is used with countable plural and uncountable nouns. The predicate of the sentence is positive because it is negative.
Example;
- None of this money belongs to you.
**Note: The words quite and such mean “quite“. They increase the meaning of the determinants. The words such as both, either, neither and each are being used to refer to two persons or two things. Neither is negative. All, most, no / none, every more than two people and used to talk about something.
- Either of these solutions will work.
- Neither of them knew the way to our house.
- Each student has to prepare a term paper.
- Every student took part in the school play.
