8/26/2015

EnglishGrammar|LearnEnglish|BritishCouncil|Determinersandquantifiers

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Determinersandquantifiers

Generalandspecificdeterminers
Determinersarewordswhichcomeatthebeginningofthenounphrase.
Theytelluswhetherthenounphraseisspecificorgeneral.
Determinersareeitherspecificorgeneral
Specificdeterminers:
Thespecificdeterminersare:
thedefinitearticle:the
possessives:my,your,his,her,itsour,their,whose
demonstratives:this,that,these,those
interrogatives:which
Weuseaspecificdeterminerwhenwebelievethelistener/readerknowsexactlywhatwearereferringto:
Canyoupassmethesaltplease?
Lookatthoselovelyflowers.
Thankyouverymuchforyourletter.
Whosecoatisthis?
Generaldeterminers:
Thegeneraldeterminersare:
aananyanotherotherwhat
Whenwearetalkingaboutthingsingeneralandthelistener/readerdoesnotknowexactlywhatwearereferringto,wecanuseauncountnounorapluralnounwithno
determiner:
Milkisverygoodforyou.(=uncountnoun)
Healthandeducationareveryimportant.(=2uncountnouns)
Girlsnormallydobetterinschoolthanboys.(=pluralnounswithnodeterminer)
oryoucanuseasingularnounwiththeindefinitearticleaoran:
Awomanwasliftedtosafetybyahelicopter.
Amanclimbingnearbysawtheaccident.
Weusethegeneraldetermineranywithasingularnounoranuncountnounwhenwearetalkingaboutallofthosepeopleorthings:
Itsveryeasy.Anychildcandoit.(=Allchildrencandoit)
Withafulllicenceyouareallowedtodriveanycar.
Ilikebeef,lamb,porkanymeat.
Weusethegeneraldetermineranothertotalkaboutanadditionalpersonorthing:
Wouldyoulikeanotherglassofwine?
Thepluralformofanotherisother:
IspoketoJohn,Helenandafewotherfriends.
Quantifiers
Weusequantifierswhenwewanttogivesomeoneinformationaboutthenumberofsomething:howmuchorhowmany.

(https://gamedata.britishcouncil.org/d/Grouping_Mjk2Nw==.xml)

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/englishgrammar/determinersandquantifiers

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8/26/2015

EnglishGrammar|LearnEnglish|BritishCouncil|Determinersandquantifiers

Determiners:introduction
Draganddropthedeterminersintothecorrectcategory.

its

those

an

which

whose

another

the

any

my

other

this

Specific
General

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COMMENTS

(/en/users/editorgcube)repliedon12August,201505:52IndiaPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/84457#COMMENT84457)
editorgcube

(/en/users/editorgcube)
HelloEveryone,
Iseekhelpinvalidatingthephrase'themanydifferentcontexts'inthefollowingsentence.
Whatweneedisabroaderunderstandingofwhatcountsascorrectandappropriatetothemanydifferentcontextsinwhichweuselanguage.
Thesentencehasbeenusedonsomedictionarywebsite,whichIassumeshouldbevalid.
However,Ineedtolearnthegrammaticalrelevanceofthemodifyingphrase'themany'inthegivensentence.Inmyopinion,thedeterminers'the'and'many'are
notusedtogether.
Does'many'imply'various'inthissentence?
Thanks,
Faisal

(/en/users/peterm)repliedon12August,201506:48PolandPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/84462#COMMENT84462)
PeterM

(/en/users/peterm)
HelloFaisal,
Itisperfectlypossibletouse'the'with'many'andthedefinitearticleherehasitsnormalmeaning.'Many'alsohasitsregularmeaningof'alargenumber'.
'inmanydifferentcontexts'=nonspecifiedcontexts
'themanydifferentcontexts'=specificcontexts(here,thoseinwhichweuselanguage)
Bestwishes,
Peter
TheLearnEnglishTeam
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/englishgrammar/determinersandquantifiers

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8/26/2015

EnglishGrammar|LearnEnglish|BritishCouncil|Determinersandquantifiers

(/en/users/vkrmsingh)repliedon30July,201517:21IndiaPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/84033#COMMENT84033)
vkrmsingh

(/en/users/vkrmsingh)
Thereisneedtobedescribedthediffrentusesof'such'asanadverboradeterminer.'Suchaleader....'and'suchanamount......'
aretwophrasesrespectivelyhaving'such'asanadverbandanadjective.Whatisthedifferenceofmeaningof'such'inbothtwophrases?

(/en/users/peterm)repliedon31July,201506:51PolandPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/84055#COMMENT84055)
PeterM

(/en/users/peterm)
Hellovkrmsingh,
Inbothofthosesentences'such'isfunctioningasanadjective,notanadverb.Ineachsentenceitdescribesanoun.'Such'canhaveseveralmeaningsbut
withoutknowingthefullcontextitisimpossibletosaywhichmeaningisrelevantforeachexample.Ifyoutype'such'intothedictionarysearchwindowon
thispageyouwillseetherangeofpossiblemeaningsandthatmayhelpyouidentifywhichisrelevantineachcontext.
Bestwishes,
Peter
TheLearnEnglishTeam

(/en/users/githuga)repliedon19July,201506:50KenyaPERMALINK(/EN/COMMENT/83523#COMMENT
83523)
(/en/users/githuga)
Githuga

Onreview,lookingatthedeterminers,IfindthereinInterrogativedeterminers.Noteitswritten"Interrogatives:"Whichdenoteplural,Howeveryoumentionedjust
onewhichis"which".Sowheredoes"where'"fallinthedeterminers?Isitnotaninterrogativedeterminer.Doyourequiretoreviewthepluralintosingular
"determiner"?Asfor'what'whichisplacedundergeneraldeterminers.

(/en/users/peterm)repliedon20July,201506:41PolandPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/83550#COMMENT83550)
PeterM

(/en/users/peterm)
HelloGithuga,
I'mafraidI'mnotsurewhatyoumeanhere,andIcan'ttelltowhichpartofourexplanationyouarereferring.Ifyouhaveaqueryaboutthegrammar
informationonthispagepleasequoteexactlythesentenceaboutwhichyouwishtoask,andstateexactlywhatyourqueryis.We'llbehappytotryto
explain.
Bestwishes,
Peter
TheLearnEnglishTeam

(/en/users/ymt566)repliedon15July,201504:37IndiaPERMALINK(/EN/COMMENT/83370#COMMENT
83370)
ymt566

(/en/users/ymt566)
Hisir,icanusechild,girls,education,healthintheformofuncountnoun.
thank.

(/en/users/ymt566)repliedon16July,201504:05IndiaPERMALINK(/EN/COMMENT/83404#COMMENT
83404)
ymt566

(/en/users/ymt566)
Hellosir,
sorry,imakesmallmistakeinabovequestion.
myquestionis''icanusechild,girls,education,healthintheformofbothcount&uncountnoun''.
thank.

(/en/users/peterm)repliedon16July,201506:28PolandPERMALINK
(/EN/COMMENT/83413#COMMENT83413)
PeterM

(/en/users/peterm)
Helloyogeshmanitripathi,
AsKirksaid,youcanfindthisinformationbyusingourCambridgeDictionariesOnlinetool.Justtypeeachwordintothewindowandclick'Lookitup!'
togetinformationoneachword,includingwhetheritiscountableoruncountable.

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/englishgrammar/determinersandquantifiers

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Bestwishes,
Peter
TheLearnEnglishTeam

Kirk

(/en/users/kirk)

(/en/users/kirk)repliedon15July,201505:53SpainPERMALINK(/EN/COMMENT/83374#COMMENT83374)

Helloyogesh,

Youcanfindtheanswersinthedictionary(seethesearchboxonthelowerright).[U]means'uncount'and[C]means'count'.Notethatsomenounscanbe
usedinbothways.
Allthebest,
Kirk
TheLearnEnglishTeam

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/englishgrammar/determinersandquantifiers

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