English Grammar/Determiners / Study Materials / by: Sujeet Kumar

ENGLISH GRAMMAR
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DETERMINERS
Concept, Types , Rules , Applications with
Explanatory examples.

  Prepared by: Sujeet Kumar
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DETERMINERS
Determiners are words of the family of Adjective and are used before a noun.

याद रखें
         [ Determiner + Noun ]

Why do we use determiners ?
~ because we want to know / tell  the following four information about the noun, a word of determiner sits or is used before:

1. whether the noun is specific or non - specific ;

2 . whose possession possession the noun under discussion is in ?

3. where the noun under discussion is located -- near us or away from us ?

4. whether the noun under discussion is numerical or quantitative ?

KINDS OF DETERMINERS: FOUR

All the above mentioned reasons for the application of Determiners give four kinds of determiner. They are :
1. Article Determiners
2 Possessive Determiners
3. Demonstrative Determiners
4. Quantifiers

याद रखें
1. Article Determiners tell us about the specificity or the non - specificity of a noun;

2. Possessive Determiners tell us about the owner of a noun;

3. Demonstrative determiners tell us about the location of the noun - near or at a distance;

4. Quantifiers tell us about the countability and uncountability of a noun.
              -----------------

ARTICLE DETERMINERS
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There are three Article Determiners. They are:  A,    An,    The

' A ' ,  ' An ' are called Indefinite Article where as ' The ' is called Definite Article.

USES OF ' A '  ' AN '
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1. ' A ' and ' An ' are used before a singular countable noun to show that the noun is unspecific ; as ,
# A book has many pages.
# There is a book on the table
# An angle of this type doesn't exists.
# Students are drawing an angle.

2. ' A ' is used before a singular countable noun whose initial sound is of consonant type ; as ,
a ball ,  a chair,   a unit, etc.

     ' An ' is used before a singular countable noun whose initial sound is of vowel type ; as,
an apple,.  an hour ,  an MLA,  etc.


3)' A ' is used :
a) before a  singular, countable noun for the reference of a class of things ; as,

* A pet needs love. (Class of things is pets)
* A father deserves to be respected by his       
   children.

b) before words expressing a quantity : as,
     * a couple of days
     * a dozen of eggs

c) before words showing  units of price, speed, ratio, weight etc ; as,

*This car runs 35 kilometres a litre.
* No one can do this work in a single go.


d) before words showing Certain numbers or monetary units ; as,
* a billion dollars
* a hundred rupees.


e) For the  expression of frequency and emotions : as,
* twice a day
* once in a week
* three times a day during winter
* What a pleasant day !
* What a gorgeous dress it is !

USES OF ' THE '
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The is used :
1.  before a singular countable noun to show that the noun is specific ; as
# The machine is out of order.
# where is the bag I bought yesterday.

2. when a superlative adjective comes before a noun; as,
the best way , the most intelligent boy ,
the biggest box , the hottest day of the year

3. before unique nouns ; as,
the Sun , the earth, the statue of Patel etc

4. before the names of human organs ; as,
the nose , the liver , the neck etc

5. before the names of musical instruments; as ,
the flute , the Star , the harmonium etc

6. in the following expressions :
    # in the sense
    # in the morning
    # in the evening
    # in the afternoon
    # all the students
    # both the girls

7. before countable nouns indicating specificity ; as,
   # The water is clean.
   #.The water kept in the jug is clean.
   # The milk has gone sour.
   #  you should not listen to the music which   
       has high tone.

8. before the names of :
    * newspapers
    * holy books
    * govt. depts.
    * museums
    * libraries
e. g.
The Indian Express
The Bhagawad Gita
The Ministry of Education
The Tagore Museum
The Vevekanand Library

9. before the names of :
    * mountain ranges
    * rivers / canals / oceans / deserts / lakes
      ships / islands etc
e.g.
the Himalayas
the  Kaveri
the Atlantic Ocean
the Sahara
the Souz Canal
the Titanic
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

10)Countries with plural names ; as ,
*The Philippines
*The Maldives

11) The names of races and communities.
*The Hindu
*The Christian


Plz. Note.
The is not used before names of :
* persons
* single mountain peak / island / continents
   city
* holidays
* days of the week
* months
* subjects of Study

We should say :
Manohar , Everest , Ceylon , Asia , Delhi , Diwali , Monday , January , Economics etc.


DEMONSTRATIV DETERMINERS
           ---------------
Demonstrative determiners are placed before a noun to tell how far or how near the particular noun is from the speaker at the time of the reference.

The demonstrative Determiners are:
this
that
these
those

Determiners showing nearness:
This ----- singular
These ---- plural

Determiners showing distance:
That ----- Singular
Those ----- plural


Hence;
( 1 )this /that + singular noun ; and
( 2 ) these / those + plural noun

Examples
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1. This house was built in 1959.

In the sentence above,
' this '  is a determiner because
' this ' appears before a noun ' house '
and the sentence means to say that house the speaker is talking about is situated so near to the speaker that he can even touch it.

2. That house was built in 1959.

In the sentence above, ' that ' appears just before ' house ' ; so ' that ' is a determiner and it tells that the ' house ' is so much distance that the speaker can talk about it only  by pointing out or indicating.

Some more
Examples
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These bags have old books
This man helped me much during voyage.
That ceiling fan is my father's purchase.
Those stories used to be interesting.

Plz. note that in:
This is my book.

' this ' is not a determiner
because-------
there is no ' noun' after ' this '


POSSESSIVE DETERMINERS
          --------------
Sometimes we need to claim ownership over a noun ( person, place, things ). We can do this by placing a word before a noun we want to claim our ownership over.

Hence;
      The possessive determiners are words used before a noun to show the ownership of  somebody over a noun(s).

HOW DO WE GET POSSESSIVE
DETERMINERS
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Possessive Determiners are derived from personal pronoun:

personal.  Possessive.  Possessive
pronoun.     Adjective.      pronoun

I.                      my.             mine
you.                 your.           yours
He                    his.             his
she                   her.             hers
It.                      its.              ------
we                    Our.            ours
They                 Their.         Theirs

EXAMPLES

1. Her mother is sixty - six years old.

Whose mother is old?
Her mother.
Here
       'Her ' is an example of possessive Determiner . ( why )

' Her ' claims relationship over mother.

2. I write with my pen.

whose pen I use to write with ?
' my pen '
here;
     ' my 'claims right over pen .
Therefore, ' my ' is a possessive Determiner.

SOME MORE EXAMPLES
       ---------------------
3. His performance in examinations have been grand.

4. Where does your uncle live ?

5. Birds use their wings to fly.

In sentences above ' his ' ,  ' your ' ' Their ' are possessive Determiners.

QUANTIFIERS
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1) MANY , MUCH
Many shows a large indefinite number and is used with plural nouns ; as,
# There are many books on the table.
# Many men took part in today's celebration.

Much shows a large indefinite quantity and is used with singular (uncomfortable) nouns; as,
# There was much noise in the hall.
# Drinking much water is not good.

2) SOME , ANY
Some shows both number and quantity of nouns and is used only in affirmative sentences ; as,
# There is some milk in the jug.
# Some scenes were interesting.

Any also shows both number and quantity but can be used only in interrogative and negative sentences ; as ,
# Is there any milk in the jug ?
# There isn't any milk in the jug.

3) EACH
Refers to number and indicates single units with only two members ; as,
# Each boy is good.
# I have two books . Each book is good.

Note
Each + singular noun
But;
# Each of --- + plural nouns ; as ,
# Each of her sons is good.
# Each of her two sons is good.

4) EVERY
Refers to number and a single units with more than two members ; as,
# I have three books.
   Every book is good
Note
Every + singular noun
But
Every of --- + plural nouns ; as ,
# I have four books.
   Every of the books is good.

5) ALL
Refers to both number and quantity ; as,
# All students joined the team.
# I spent all the money I had.

6) FEW
Refers to negative (no) number of noun ; as,
# I have few books.
= I have no books.

7) A FEW
Refers to positive number of nouns ; as,
# He has a few books.
= He has some books

8) THE FEW
Refers to very small number of nouns ; as ,
# The few students who win awards, work hard for it.

9) LITTLE
Refers to nothing for good quantity of nouns ; as,
# She knows little about this deal.
= She knows nothing about this deal.

10) A LITTLE
Refers to positive quality of nouns ; as ,
# There is a little water in the jug.
= There is some water in the jug.

11) THE LITTLE
Indicates very small quantity of nouns ;as ,
# The little water can't quench my thirst.

12) EITHER
Either has two meanings :
a) any of the two different persons or things :
# you can take either book. ( any of the two books )

# Can either of you speak French ?
b) the both
# There were tall shady trees on either side of the road.

13) NEITHER
Neither is opposite of Either. It means : not one of the two.
# Neither of the children wants to go to bed.
# I favour neither party.

14) ANOTHER
Used with a singular countable noun to talk about an additional person or thing of the same type ; as,
#Can I have another cup of coffee?
#He opened another branch last month.

15) OTHER
Used both with countable and uncountable nouns to tell about things / person away from the main stream ; as ,
# Other people might not have thought like this.

#The students are busy in other activities rather than participating in the math class.

16) ENOUGH
Used both with countable and uncountable nouns ; as,
# I don't have enough tomatoes.
# we have enough oil to apply on our body.

17) SEVERAL
Used with countable nouns to refer to more than two things or persons ;as,
# Several books are available in  the market on this topic.
# Several cases of fraud were reported.

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