Determiner

The determiner is a word that determines the meaning of noun, it comes before a noun and gives information about it,

It determine the meaning of a noun in terms of following things  :

• Making the meaning  of noun generic
• Making the meaning  of noun specific
• Mndicating the direction and number of noun
• Showing the possession a person or a thing
• Showing a number of noun

Examples :

• Every person has a chance to do something big
• I have a car
• My dog is my best friend
• Some people do not give up and these people never fail
• This guy’s super rich. He has ten cars

 

There are six types of determiners :

1. Articles

   Indefinite article : a, an (it makes the meaning of a noun eneric)

   example : an apple, a cat, a dog

   an apple a day keeps a doctor away

   Definite article   : the  (it makes the meaning of a noun specific)

   examples : the movie, the man

   the movie that we watched yesterday was awesome
   I watched a movie yesterday  and that was awesome
   I love the girls who’s wearing a red top

 

• Impotant Point :

• A determiner always comes before  a noun it modifies
• A singular countable noun has to be modified with an appropriate determinerExamples :My father is a/the/your doctor
  My brother is an engineer
  I have a car

• A determiner always comes before and adjective in a noun phrase
  ( Determiner + adjective + noun)

  Examples :

  A big boy
  Some amazing places
  Your beautiful wife

2. Possessives (possessive adjectives)

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

   possessive adjectives are used to show a possession of a noun.

   Examples :

   My goal to help people achieve their goals.
   She does not love her job

3. Demonstratives (demonstrative adjectives)

   (this, that, these, those)

   Demonstratives determine a noun by showing its number and vicinity

   Examples :

   This guy is super talented
   I love that girl
   I love these girls
   I love those girls

4. Quantifiers

   (any, some, few/a few/the few, many, a lot of, lots of, little/a little/the little, several)

   Examples :

   Some people never give up
   Many innocent people lost their lives in the riots happened last week
   I have some students to teach

   Quantifiers used with uncountable nouns : little, much, enough, a large, a mount

   Examples :

   I got little milk in my fridge
   She doesn’t not have much energy left to talk to you

5. Numbers

   Cardinal Numbers :
   one, two three, four, five …

   Ordinal Numbers :
   First, Second, third, fourth, fifth …

   Examples :

   This series has eight episodes
   he’s got forty people working for him
   Life doesn’t give you a second chance
   This is my fifth interview this month

6. Distributive Adjectives (distributives)

   (each, either, neither, all, both, every)

   Examples :

   Each girl deserves an award
   All people are capable to do evil things
   Neither girl is entering into the class

Multiple determiners in a noun phrase :

Structure of a noun phrase : Determiner + adjective + noun

Examples :

A beautiful lady
Some crazy people
These smart people

Articles/possessives/demonstratives + number + adjective + noun

Examples :

My four sisters
The four boys
These two boys