University of Aleppo SEMINAR

English literature 2st year GRAMMAR 3

NAME : Ahmad Haj Omar

Determiners

SUPERVISED BY : Mr. Abdulhamid Abdulqadir

PRESENTED BY : Ahmad Haj Omar

Table of contents

 Determiners

1- Noun Phrase

a. Element Of noun Phrase

b. Common models for noun phrase

2- What Are the Determiner

a. Definition of Determiner

3- Using Determiner

4- Types of Determiners
a. Articles
b. Demonstratives
c. Possessives and Genitives
d. Quantifiers

5- Specific and General Determiners

6- Count and Non-Count Determiners

7- Distance in time or place

8- The relations between determiners and other grammatical objects

a. Determiners and nouns

b. Determiners and pronouns

c. Determiners and prepositions

d. Determiners vs pronouns

 references
Introduction

A noun phrase is a group of words that work together to name and describe a person, place,
thing, or idea. When we look at the structure of writing, we treat a noun phrase the same way we
treat a common noun.
Like all nouns, a noun phrase can be a subject, object, or complement.

Elements in the noun phrase

Noun phrases are composed of four kinds of elements;

Determiners Pre-modifiers Head Post-modifiers /Complements

The six most common models for noun phrases

1. Pronoun
2. Noun alone
3. Determiner + noun
4. Determiner + modifier + noun
5. Determiner + noun + extension.
6. Determiner + modifier + noun + extension
Examples
1. They
2. Apples
3. The apples
4. The biggest apples
5. The apples in this box
6. The biggest apples in this box
Other models are possible too.

Today we are going to talk specifically about determiners

What are the determiners?

Determiners Definition

Determiners are words that identify whether or not a noun is specific or general. They are used to
help us know if we are talking about a particular object or any object. For example, Lord of the Rings
is a specific book so it would need a specific determiner. A General determiner would be used if we
were talking any book or all books in general.

How to use a determiner?

A determiner is used to modify a noun. It indicates reference to something specific or something of a

particular type. This function is usually performed by articles, demonstratives, possessive
determiners, or quantifiers.

Many different words fill the role of determiner.

Some examples are: a, an, the, any, all, both, little, many, some, several, few, each, either,
this, that, these, those, one, two, three, and all other numbers.
Types of Determiners

Determiners can be grouped into various types such as specific and general, count and non-
count etc. A determiner can belong to more than one type.

Types of determiners :

 Articles

- The definite and indefinite articles are all determiners.

 Definite article - the

 Indefinite article - a or an (a is used before a consonant sound; an is used before a vowel
sound.)

Example: - Close the door, please.

- I've got a friend in Canada.

 Demonstratives

There are four demonstrative determiners in English and they are: this, that, these and those

Note that demonstrative determiners can also be used as demonstrative pronouns. When they are used
as determiners they are followed by the nouns they modify. Compare:

Example : - This is my camera. (Demonstrative used as a pronoun, subject of the verb is)

- This camera is mine. (Demonstrative used as a determiner modifying the noun camera.)

 Possessives

Possessive adjectives - my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their - modify the noun following it in order to
show possession.

Possessive determiners are different from possessive pronouns - mine, his, hers, yours, ours, their.

 Possessive pronouns can stand alone and are not followed by nouns.

 Possessive determiners, on the other hand, are followed by nouns.

Compare:

This is my house. (my is a possessive determiner. It is followed by the noun house which it modifies)

Is that car yours? (yours is a possessive pronoun. It is not followed by a noun.)

 Quantifiers

Quantifiers are followed by nouns which they modify. Examples of quantifiers include:
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.
Example: - He knows more people than his wife.
- Little knowledge is a dangerous thing .

Specific and General Determiners

“A” and “an” are the most common general determiners, and “the” is the most common specific
determiner.

Examples:

- I want to watch a new film. - “A” is a general determiner and it tells us that it could be any film
you are talking about.
- The films that are showing this week look awesome. – “The” is a specific determiner because

it refers to only a certain group of films.

"All", "those", "this", "that", and numbers are also specific determiners, while "few", "some", "several",
"little", and "many" are general determiners.

Examples:

- All students at the school participate in the fire drill. – “All” is specific to the students in the
school.
- Some students at the school participate in the fire drill. – “Some” is general and refers to
some students but not others.

Count and Non-Count Determiners

Count determiners are used when we can count the specific number of the noun given. Books, cats,
people, pens, and cookies would all be count nouns and would need count determiners. Water, sun,
air, fear, love, time and space are non-count nouns and would need non-count determiners.

Use “many” and “few” with count nouns. Use “much” and “little” with non-count nouns.

Examples:

- Many writers have published fantasy books. – “Many” is a count determiner because you can
count the number of writers.
- There are a few ways to ensure you earn a passing grade. – “few” is a count determiner
because you can count the number of ways.
- Mike spent much time on researching ancient cultures. – “Much” is a non-count determiner
because time cannot be counted (only the measurements of time can be counted.)
- Little concern has been given to how cell phones may harm us. - "Little" is a non-count noun
because concern cannot be counted or measured.

Distance in time or place

“This” and “these” both refer to things that are physically close to the speaker in time or place.
Use “that” and “those” to refer to things that are physically distant from the speaker in time or place.
 Examples:

- These days, many books are written in the fantasy genre. - "These" because we talk about
the current days that are close to us.
- This book I just finished reading was interesting. - "This" because the book that is right here
close to us.
- In those early years of my schooling, I was not the best student. - "those" because we talk
about years that are way in the past.
- In that building, there is a library. - "that" because we refer to a building that is further away.

The relations between determiners and other grammatical objects

Determiners and nouns
Determiners are directly connected to the nouns that they modify and describe. The type of noun
determines the type of determiner you will need to use. An example of this is the count and non-count
nouns.

Determiners and pronouns

Determiners work with nouns. Pronouns are words that are used to replace nouns in sentences. We can
say “Johnny went to the store” and ‘the’ is a determiner. The pronoun would be a replacement for ‘Johnny’
but there is no determiner for that and there is no pronoun for store. So therefore, determiners only work
with nouns.

Determiners and prepositions

Determiners can appear within prepositional phrases at times. Take the following sentence for example- “I
am going to the store to get some milk.” “to the store” and “to get some milk” are prepositional phrases.
Within those phrases are the specific determiners “the” and the general determiner “some.” So as you can
see, determiners can come within prepositional phrases.

Determiners vs pronouns

Determiners are followed by a noun.

 The man
 This book
 Some people

Subject pronouns ( I , you , he , etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be
determiners because they can never be followed by a noun.

 References

- Real English Grammar1( Book )

- https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/determiners-and-quantifiers(
website)
- https://english.tutorvista.com/grammar/determiners.html (website)