Determiners, Countability

Tóth Ágnes2013.04.15

Determiners are words placed in front of a noun (or a NP) to make it clear what the noun refers to.

Classes of DeterminersI. Definite and Indefinite articles

the, a, an

II. Demonstrativesthis, that, these, those

III. Possessivesmy, your, his, her, its, our, their

IV. Quantifiersa few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, some, any, enough, etc.

V. Distributivesall, both, half, either, neither, each, every

VI. Difference wordsother, another

VII. Question wordsWhich, what, whose

VIII. Defining wordswhich, whose

I. Definite article

THE1. to refer to something which has already been mentioned

2. when both the speaker and listener know what is being talked about, even if it has not been mentioned before.

Where's the library?

3. in sentences or clauses where we define or identify a particular person or object

4. to refer to objects we regard as uniquethe sun

5. before superlatives and ordinal numbers the highest building, the first page

6. with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of peoplethe Hungarians

7. with names of geographical areas and oceans:the Caribbean

8. with decades, or groups of yearsin the eighties

I. 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)BUT: An before a mute h - an hour, an honour.

A before u and eu when they sound like 'you': a european, a university, a unit

1. To refer to something for the first time2. To refer to a particular member of a group or class

3. With names of jobs4. He wants to be a dancer.

5. With nationalities and religions:John is an Englishman.

Kate is a Catholic.6. With musical instruments:

Sherlock Holmes was playing a violin when the visitor arrived.7. With names of days:I was born on a Thursday

8. To refer to a kind of, or example of something9. With singular nouns, after the words 'what' and 'such':

What a shame!She's such a beautiful girl.

10. Meaning 'one', referring to a single object or person

II. Demonstratives

This, That, These, Those

Show where an object or person is in relation to the speaker.

1. Before the noun. 2. Before the word 'one'.

3. Before an adjective + noun. 4. Alone when the noun is 'understood'.

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)

III. Possessives

my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their

Possesive determiners vs. Possesive pronouns

[http://www.smbv.sz.uni-erlangen.de/course/szfau-smbv/grammar/grammar/section4/page1_en.html]z.uni-erlangen.de/course/szfau-

smbv/grammar/grammar/section4/page1_en.html]

Possessive determiners

Possessive pronouns

Example

my mine This is my car. vs. It is mine.

your yours This is your car. vs. It is yours.

his/her/its his/her/its This is his car. vs. It is his.

our ours This is our car. vs. It is ours.

your yours This is your car. vs. It is yours.

their theirs This is their car. vs. It is theirs.

IV. Quantifiers

a few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, some, any, enough, etc.

Quantifiers are adjectives and adjectival phrases that give approximate answers to the questions "How much?" and "How many?"

1. Numbers: Ordinal and Cardinal, percentages 2. Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

3. A few and few, a little and little 4. Some and any

5. Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO 6. Graded Quantifiers

7. Enough + Noun

1. Numbers: Ordinal and Cardinal, percentages

Cardinal numbers (one, two, three, etc.) are adjectives referring to quantityOrdinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.) refer to distribution.

2. Quantifiers with countable and uncountable nouns

Only withuncountable nouns - How much? A little, a bit (of), a great deal of, a large amount of

With uncountable and countable nouns - How much? or How many? No/none, not any, some, a lot of, plenty of

Only with countable nouns - How many?A few, a number of, several, a large number of, a great number of

5. Compound nouns made with SOME, ANY and NO

Some + /Any + /No +

-thing -body -one -where

6. Graded Quantifiers

They function like comparatives and hold a relative position on a scale of increase or decrease

INCREASE From 0% to 100%With plural countable nouns:

many more mostWith uncountable nouns:

much more most

DECREASE From 100% to 0%With plural countable nouns:

few fewer fewestWith uncountable nouns:little less least

V. Distributives

all, both, half, either, neither, each, every

All +1.uncountable noun

2.‘the’ + uncountable noun/countable noun in plural form 3.‘my’, ‘your’, etc + uncountable noun/countable noun in plural form

4. ‘this’, ‘that’ + uncountable noun/‘these’, ‘those’ + countable noun in plural form

Both +1. ‘the’ /‘my’, ‘your’, etc/‘these’, ‘those’ + countable noun in plural form (only when two objects are

being referred to)

Half +1. ‘a’ + uncountable noun

2. ‘the’/‘my’, ‘your’, etc/‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’ + noun

The Ordering of Determiners

Depending on their relative position before a noun,three classes of determiners are distinguished.

1.Predeterminer2. Central Determiner

3. Postdeterminer

It is rare for all three determiner slots to be filled in the same sentence. Generally, only one or two slots are

filled.

1. Predeterminers (can not co-occur)● Specify the quntity of the noun

● All, both

2. Central Determiners● Articles (most common)

● Possesives● Demonstratives

3. Postdeterminers (can co-occur)● Numbers

● Quantifiers

Countable, Uncountable nouns

Countable nouns:

● Can be singular or plural● Quantifiers to use: a few, several, each, a small

number of, not too many, every few,

Uncountable nouns:

● Substances, concepts that cannot be divided into separate elements. (We cannot count orange juice, but

we can count a box of orange juice.)● They are treated singular (This news is important)

● Some/any, little/much can be used with uncountable nouns.

● Quantifiers to use: a little, a small amount of, a bit of, not too much

Countable Uncountable

There are two hairs in my coffee!

hair I don't have much hair.

There are two lights in our bedroom.

lightClose the curtain. There's too

much light!

Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.

There are so many different noises in the city.

noise

Shhhhh! I thought I heard a noise.

There are so many different noises in the city.

Have you got a paper to read? (newspaper)

Hand me those student papers.

paperI want to draw a picture. Have

you got some paper?

Our house has seven rooms. roomIs there room for me to sit

here?

We had a great time at the party. We had a great time at

the party.How many times have I told

you no?

timeHave you got time for a cup of

coffee?

With the change of meaning, certain words can be both countabe and uncountable

[http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-un-countable_3.htm]

In pairs, write sentences in three minutes, include as many determiners as possibe.

[http://www.roydoty.com/illustration/busy-office.gif]

[http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/richard-scarrys-

busytown/screenshots/gameShotId,278892/]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvqHuoZlKmc

Source/more on determiners:Edufind.com

Main structure based on: http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/determiners_classes.php

The ordering of determiners:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/determin/xdetm3.htm