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.
Classes of Determiners
There are several classes of
determiners:
DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES
THE, A, AN
Definite article: THE
Indefinite article: A/AN
Exceptions to using the
definite article
THE DEMONSTRATIVES
THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE
THE POSSESSIVES
Possessive pronouns and
possessive adjectives show who the thing belongs to.
THE QUANTIFIERS
Quantifiers are adjectives and adjectival phrases
that give approximate
answers to the questions "How much?"
and "How many?"
Example:
I've got a little money.
I've got a lot of friends.
m Quantifiers with countable and
uncountable nouns
m A few and few, a little and
little
m Some and any
m Compound nouns made with SOME,
ANY and NO
m Graded Quantifiers
m Enough + Noun
THE QUANTIFIERS
NUMBERS
The cardinal numbers (one, two, three,
etc.) are adjectives referring to
quantity, and the ordinal numbers (first,
second, third, etc.) refer to
distribution.
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.
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.
l There are other jobs you could try.
l Where's the other packet of cereals?
l Is there any other bread?
l 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.
l Which dress are you going to wear tonight?
l What colour is your dress?
l 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:
Example:
l 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.
l I saw the man. (Which man?)
The man whose car you damaged. = I
saw the man whose car
you damaged.
More examples:
l He couldn't remember which film he had seen.
l That's the man whose wife works in my office.
l Tell me which coffee you like.
l The woman whose
dog bit you is at the door.
DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES
THE, A, AN
Definite article: THE
Indefinite article: A/AN
Exceptions to using the 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.
Example: 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.
Example: '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:
Examples: 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:
Examples: the sun, the moon, the world
5. before superlatives and ordinal numbers: (see Adjectives)
Examples: the highest building,
the first page, the last
chapter.
6. with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of
people:
Examples: the Japanese (see Nouns - Nationalities), the old
7. with names of geographical areas and oceans:
Examples: the Caribbean, the Sahara,
the Atlantic
8. with decades, or groups of years:
Example: she grew up in the seventies
INDEFINITE ARTICLE
A / AN
Use 'a' with nouns starting with a consonant
(letters that are not vowels),
'an' with nouns starting with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u)
Examples:
A boy
An apple
A car
An orange
A house
An opera
NOTE:
An before an h mute - an hour, an honour.
A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european,
a university, a unit
The indefinite article is used:
to refer to something for the first time:
An elephant and a mouse fell
in love.
Would you like a drink?
I've finally got a good job.
l to refer to a particular
member of a group or class
Examples:
m with names of jobs:
John is a doctor.
Mary is training to be an engineer.
He wants to be a dancer.
m with nationalities and
religions:
John is an Englishman.
Kate is a Catholic.
m with musical instruments:
Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived.
(BUT to describe the activity we
say "He plays the violin.")
m with names of days:
I was born on a Thursday
l to refer to a kind of, or
example of something:
the mouse had a tiny nose
the elephant had a long trunk
it was a very strange car
l with singular nouns, after
the words 'what' and 'such':
What a shame!
She's such a beautiful girl.
l meaning 'one', referring to
a single object or person:
I'd like an orange and two lemons please.
The burglar took a diamond necklace and a valuable painting.
Notice also that we usually say a hundred,
a thousand, a
million.
NOTE: that we use 'one'
to add emphasis or to
contrast with other numbers:
I don't know one person who likes
eating elephant meat.
We've got six computers but only one
printer.
EXCEPTIONS TO USING THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
There is no article:
l with names of countries (if
singular)
He's just returned from Zimbabwe
(But: I'm visiting the United States
l with the names of languages
French is spoken in Tahiti .
English uses many words of Latin origin.
Indonesian is a relatively new language.
l with the names of meals.
Lunch is at midday.
Dinner is in the evening.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day.
l 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.)
l 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
l After the 's possessive
case:
His brother's car.
Peter's house.
l with professions:
Engineering is a useful career.
He'll probably go into medicine.
l with names of shops:
I'll get the card at Smith's.
Can you go to Boots for me?
l with years:
1948 was a wonderful year.
Do you remember 1995?
l With uncountable nouns:
Rice is the main food in Asia .
Milk is often added to tea in England
War is destructive.
l with the names of individual
mountains, lakes and islands:
She lives near Lake
Windermere .
Have you visited Long
Island ?
l 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.
l in some fixed expressions,
for example:
by car
by train
by air
on foot
on holiday
on air (inbroadcasting)
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
a) Before the noun.
b) Before the word 'one'.
c) Before an adjective + noun.
d) 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.RONOUNS
Singular
1st (I) my mine
2nd (you) your yours
3rd (he) his his
(she) her hers
(it) it its
Plural
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.
Example:
Jane's brother is married to John's sister.
Her brother is married to his sister.
Examples:
a. Peter and his sister.
b. Jane and her father.
c. Do you know where your books are?
d. Is this their picnic? No, it is ours.
e. 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?"
Example:
I've got a little money.
I've got a lot of friends.
m Quantifiers with countable and
uncountable nouns
m A few and few, a little and
little
m Some and any
m Compound nouns made with SOME,
ANY and NO
m Graded Quantifiers
m Enough + Noun
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.
countable nouns
Only with
Uncountable With
Countable and Countable Only
with Countable
Noun
Noun
Noun
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
…………………. + Noun
Note: much and many are used in negative and
question forms.
Example:
l How much money have you got?
l How many cigarettes have you smoked?
l There's not much sugar in the cupboard.
l There weren't many people at the concert.
They are also used with too, (not) so, and
(not) as :
There were too manypeople
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:
l I've got a lot of work this week.
l 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 isreferring to.
A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for
uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way:
l "I've got a few friends" (= maybe not many, but enough)
l "I've got a little money" (= I've got enough to live on)
Few and little describe the quantity in a negative way:
l Few people visited him in hospital (= he had almost
no visitors)
l 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:
l I had some rice for lunch
l He's got some books from the library.
It is also used in questions where we are sure
about the answer:
l Did he give you some tea? (= I'm sure he did.)
l 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:
l Could I have some books, please?
l Why don't you take some books home with you?
l Would you like some books?
Any is used in questions and with not in negative statements:
l Have you got any tea?
l He didn't give me any
tea.
l I don't think we've got any
coffee left.
More examples:
SOME in positive sentences.
a. I will have some news next week.
b. She has some valuable
books in her house.
c. Philip wants some help with his exams.
d. There is some butter
in the fridge.
e. We need some cheese
if we want to make a fondue.
SOME in questions:
a. Would you like some help?
b. Will you have some more roast beef?
ANY in negative sentences
a. She doesn't want
any kitchen appliances for Christmas.
b. They don't want
any help moving to their new house.
c. No, thank you. I don't want any more cake.
d. There isn't any reason
to complain.
ANY in interrogative sentences
a. Do you have any friends
in London
b. Have they got any children?
c. Do you want any groceries from the shop?
d. Are there any problems with your work?
THE QUANTIFIERS
Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO
Some +
Any + -thing
-body -one
-where
No +
Compound nouns with some- and
any- are used in the same way as some and any.
Positive statements:
l Someone is sleeping in my bed.
l He saw something in the garden.
l I left my glasses somewhere in the house.
Questions:
l Are you looking for someone? (= I'm sure you are)
l Have you lost something? (= I'm sure you have)
l Is there anything to eat? (real question)
l Did you go anywhere last night?
Negative statements:
l She didn't go anywhere last night.
l He doesn't know anybody here.
NOTICE that there is a difference in emphasis between nothing,
nobody etc.
and not ... anything, not ...
anybody:
l I don't know anything about it. (= neutral, no emphasis)
l I know nothing about it (= more emphatic, maybe defensive)
More examples:
SOMETHING, SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE
a. I have something to tell you.
b. There is something to drink in the fridge.
c. He knows somebody in
New York
d. Susie has somebody staying
with her.
e. They want to go somewhere hot for their holidays.
f. Keith is looking for somewhere to live.
ANYBODY, ANYTHING, ANYWHERE
a. Is there anybody who
speaks English here?
b. Does anybody have
the time?
c. Is there anything to
eat?
d. Have you anything to
say?
e. He doesn't have anything to stay tonight.
f. I wouldn't eat anything except at Maxim's.
NOBODY, NOTHING, NOWHERE
a. There is nobody in
the house at the moment
b. When I arrived there was nobody to meet me.
c. I have learnt nothing since I began the course.
d. There is nothing to
eat.
e. There is nowhere as
beautiful as Paris
f. 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:
a. You can borrow any of my books.
b. They can choose anything from the menu.
c. 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.
IINCREASE From 0% to 100%
Increase from 0% to 100%
With plural countable nouns:
many more most
With uncountable nouns:
much more most
DECREASE From 100% to 0%
Decrease rom 100% to 0%
With plural countable nouns:
few fewer fewest
With uncountable nouns:
little less least
Examples:
l There are many people in England ,
more in India ,
but the most people live in China
l Much time and money is spent on education, more on health services but the most is
spent on national defence.
l Few rivers in Europe
are not polluted.
l Fewer people die young now than in the seventeenth
century.
l The country with the fewest people per square kilometre must be Australia
l Scientists have little hope of finding a complete cure for cancer before the year
2,000.
l She had less time to study than Paul but had better results.
l 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:
l There is enough bread for lunch.
l She has enough money.
Enough is also used with adjectives and adverbs - see these sections.
l We didn't have enough time to visit London
Bridge
l Are there enough eggs to make an omelette?
l Richard has enough talent to become a singing star.
THE QUANTIFIERS
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 Ordinal Cardinal
Number Ordinal Cardinal
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 f ive
hundredth
1,000 one
thousand thousandth
100,000 one hundred
thousand hundred thousandth
1,000,000 one
million millionth
Examples:
l There are twenty-five people in the room.
l He was the fourteenth person to win the award since 1934.
l Six hundred thousand people were left homeless after the earthquake.
l I must have asked you twenty times to be quiet.
l He went to Israel
Fractions
and decimalsid Written Said
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
Written Said
25% twenty
five percent
50% fifty
percent
75% seventy
five percent
100% a/one
hundred percent
Units
Written Said
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
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
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:
1 - Uncountable
noun
2 the Uncountable
noun or Countable noun
ALL + 3 my,
your, etc. Countable noun in the plural
4a this, that Uncountable
noun
4b these, those Countable
noun in the plural
Example:
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!
1 -
2 the
BOTH + 3 my, your, etc. Countable noun in the plural
4 these, those
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.
1 a Uncountable
2 the uncountable
or countable
HALF + 3 my, your, etc. countable
4 this, that, countable noun
these, those
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:
l Each child received a present.
l Each of the children received a present.
Every is a way of seeing a group as a series of members:
l Every child in the world deserves affection.
It can also express different points in a series,
especially with time expressions:
l Every third morning John goes jogging.
l This magazine is published every other week.
Either and Neither are concerned with distribution between two
things -
either is positive, neither is negative:
l Which chair do you want? Either chair will do.
l I can stay at either hotel, they are both good
l There are two chairs here.
You can take either of them.
l Neither chair is any good, they're both too small.
l 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.
l There are other jobs you could try.
l Where's the other packet of cereals?
l Is there any other bread?
l 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.
l Which dress are you going to wear tonight?
l What colour is your dress?
l 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:
Example:
l 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.
l I saw the man. (Which man?)
The man whose car you damaged. = I
saw the man whose car
you damaged.
More examples:
l He couldn't remember which film he had seen.
l That's the man whose wife works in my office.
l Tell me which coffee you like.
l 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:
a. What a
lovely day!
b. She's such a
lovely woman!
c. What an
incredible film!
d. 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:
a. It's rather a
small car. (= I'm a bit disappointed because it's small)
b. It was quite a
nice day.(= I was agreeably surprised.)
c. He's had quite a
bad accident. (= I'm worried)
d. I've just met rather a nice man. (= I'm pleased)
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