Mastering Determiners: Types, Usage, and Examples

Posted on Apr 1, 2025 in Geography and Territorial Management

Unit 3: Determiners

Determiners give information about the noun.

Placement:

  • Before a common noun
  • Before the adjective that goes with the common noun

Determiners classify and identify:

  • Definite article: “The”
  • Definite determiners: the, this, that, all, both, these, those

Definiteness

  • Indefinite article: “a/an”
  • Indefinite determiners: a, an, each, every, some, any, either, neither, no, another, few, little, several, many, much, enough, numerals

Demonstratives

This / That / These / Those

Possessives

My / Your / His / Her / Its / Our / Your / Their

Numbers

Ordinals: first, second, third, fourth …

Cardinals: one, two, three, four…

Quantifiers

Much / Many / Any / Some

Determiners, according to their position in the noun phrase (NP), can be categorized into three types: Pre-determiners, Central determiners, and Post-determiners.

Pre-determiners

They are mutually exclusive, precede central determiners, and relate to quantification. There are two groups:

  1. all, both, half (such, what)
  2. Multipliers
All / Both / Half
  • All: with countable nouns (plural) and uncountable nouns
    • Example: all the books / all music
  • Both: with countable nouns (plural)
    • Example: Both books
  • Half: with countable nouns (singular and plural) and uncountable nouns
    • Example: half a book

Pre-determiners can be used “pronominally.”

  • Example: Both the students sat for the exam, and both passed. (The first ‘both’ is a pre-determiner, and the last ‘both’ is pronominal because it is followed by a verb.)

Following pre-determiners, we can use “of + phrase.”

  • Example: half of the students…

“All” and “Both” can be used before the verb to give emphasis, but when the verb “to be” is in the sentence, they are placed after the verb.

  • Example: The students all sat for the exam / The students were all happy
Multipliers

They multiply the quantity of the noun.

  • twice the length
  • double her salary
  • Three times his salary

When the multiplier is followed by the indefinite article “a” or by “each” or “every”, it refers to a measure set against the unit.

  • Example: one a day (we have a measure: 24 h/day)

Central Determiners

  • The: with countable nouns (singular and plural) and uncountable nouns.
  • Demonstratives: This, these, that, those
  • Possessives: my, your, his, her…
    • Example: the boy said: it is my pencil
  • Wh-determiners: which, whose, what, whichever
    • Example: what time is it?
  • Negative determiners: No (negation)
    • Example: I have no idea (I haven’t got any idea)
Indefinite article “a/an”

With countable nouns (singular)

  • every/each:
    • Example: I go to work every day ////// Example: Each student in this room has an English book
  • either/neither:
    • Example: parking is permitted on neither side of the street
Zero article
  • some/any
    • Example: could you give some apples please?
  • enough:
    • Example: I don’t have enough money

Post-Determiners

After central determiners

  • Ordinals: first, second, third…, last and other/another
    • Example: I have another car / this is my first boyfriend
  • Quantifiers: one, two, three, …, many, few (plural count nouns), little (non-count nouns), plenty of and a lot of
    • Example: There is little sugar in the tin // there are few students in my class

Note: The ordinals precede the quantifiers.

  • Example: My first two books / My last few possessions