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Handout Determiners

The document discusses determiners in English. It defines determiners as noun modifiers that provide context about quantity and possession. There are several types of determiners: articles like "the", "a", and "an"; demonstratives like "this" and "that"; quantifiers like "many" and "few"; possessives like "my" and "her"; and interrogatives like "what" and "which". Determiners provide important context about nouns and are a key part of English grammar.

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26 views2 pages

Handout Determiners

The document discusses determiners in English. It defines determiners as noun modifiers that provide context about quantity and possession. There are several types of determiners: articles like "the", "a", and "an"; demonstratives like "this" and "that"; quantifiers like "many" and "few"; possessives like "my" and "her"; and interrogatives like "what" and "which". Determiners provide important context about nouns and are a key part of English grammar.

Uploaded by

Rashi Srivastav
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AMITY INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, MAYUR VIHAR

SUBJECT: ENGLISH HANDOUT


DETERMINERS
NAME ___________________ CLASS VII ROLL NO. ______

WHAT IS A DETERMINER?

The determiner is an important noun modifier which provides introduces and provides context
to a noun, often in terms of quantity and possession. Determiners in English precede a noun or
noun phrase and include articles, demonstratives, quantifiers and possessives.
There are many different determiners in the English language.
1. Articles
➢ There are only three examples of articles, and these are: the, a, and an. The article
“the” is considered as a definite article because it refers to a particular noun that is
mentioned in the text, while the articles “a” and “an” are called indefinite articles
because they point out to a class of noun mentioned in the sentence.
➢ The indefinite articles “a” and “an” have the same function, but they are not
interchangeable. The former is used if it precedes a noun that starts with a
consonant (e.g., a bike; a gadget; a television), while the latter is used if the noun
after it starts with a vowel (sound) (e.g., an eggplant; an architect; an umbrella).

▪ The Eiffel Tower is a beautiful destination.


▪ Johnny is an Englishman.
▪ Ethan is studying to be an engineer.

2. Demonstratives
➢ This kind of determiners demonstrates and functions as pointers of a particular noun.
Basically, demonstratives indicate the position or location of a noun from the point of
view of the speaker. Some examples of demonstratives include: this, these,
that, and those.
➢ The demonstrative “this” is used for singular nouns that are near the speaker, while
“these” is for plural nouns that are also close by. On the other hand, the demonstrative
“that” is for a singular noun that is further away, and “those” is for plural nouns that are
also far from the speaker.
▪ This laptop is mine.
▪ That car is my uncle’s.
▪ These cookies taste great.

3. Quantifiers
• As the name suggests, quantifiers are used to express the quantity. It can answer the
questions, “How much?” or “How many?” Some examples of quantifiers include: a few,
enough, many, a little, most, some, any, and much.

AISMV/MD-19/E-1/HO-3
• some, any, few, little, more, much, many, each, every, both, all, enough, half, little, whole,
less etc.
• Quantifiers are commonly used before either countable or uncountable nouns.
• I have enough money.
• We have much time.
• He knows more people than his wife.
• Little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
• More general determiners are quantifiers:

few
a few fewer
a little both
less neither
each
all little no
either
another many other
enough
more several
any every
most some
much

4. Possessives
• This type of determiners is used to express possession or ownership of a noun. Possessive
determiners are different from possessive pronouns, because possessive pronouns can be
independent or can stand alone. Some examples of possessives include: my, his, our,
their, and her.

• This is my car.
• Is this his house?
• Her mom is very pretty.
• Is this your car?
• The dog growled and showed its teeth.

5. Interrogatives

• As the term implies, the interrogative determiners are used for asking questions. The three
examples of interrogatives are: what, whose, and which.

▪ What toppings do you want for your frozen yogurt?


▪ Which school do you prefer?
▪ Whose baby are you watching?

There are many other types of determiners. For instance, cardinal numbers, the numbers that are
written out in English, are also included in the class of determiners.
• The third house from the left is mine.

AISMV/MD-19/E-1/HO-3

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