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5) Predeterminers
a) - ALL, BOTH, HALF
These have in common the positive characteristic of being able to cooccur
before the articles, the demonstratives and the possessives.
All/both/half of these/those girls
All occurs with plural count nouns and with noncount nouns, as in
All the books All books
Both occurs with plural count nouns, as in
Both the books both books
Half occurs with singular and plural count nouns and with noncount nouns
as in:
Half the books Half a book
b) - THE MULTIPLIERS
These have two uses as predeterminers. When the following determiner is
the definite article, demonstrative or possessive, the multiplier applies to
the noun so determined:
Twice/double the length (a length twice as great)
Three times her salary (a salary three times as large)
When the following determiner is the indefinite article or each or every, the
multiplier applies to a measure (such as frequency) set against the unit
specified by the following noun:
Once a day
Twice a day
Four times every year
6) Postdeterminers fall into two classes:
a) Ordinals, such as: first, fourth, last, other;
b) Quantifiers, such as: seven, ninety, many, few, plenty of, a lot
of;
Were they can co-occur, items from a) usually precede items from b)
Eg: the first two poems
My last few possessions
Among the b) items, there are two important distinctions involving few and
little. First, few occurs only with plural count nouns, little only with
noncount nouns. Second, when preceded by a, each has a positive meaning,
without a, each has a negative meaning, thus:
Eg: I played a few games (ie several)
I play few games (ie hardly any)
She ate a little bread (ie some)
She ate little bread (ie hardly any)
We should note also a contrast involving assertive and non-assertive usage.
Some items are predominantly assertive (such as plenty of, a few, a
little, a good many), while others are predominantly non-assertive (such
as much, many):
Eg: we need plenty of time
- We dont need much time
She has written a good many poems
- She hasnt written many poems
Others examples of Postdeterminers:
The two ladies in the car are my sisters. (quantifiers)
My last travel to Buenos Aires was in June. (Ordinals)
The first time I saw her I didnt recognize her. (Ordinals)
The last two lines explain the problem. (ordinal preceding quantifier)
7) The indefinitive (a, an), definite (the) or zero article (-)
Rules for articles generally depend on the gender of the noun and on
whether if it is singular or plural. In English, gender does not affect our
choice, but a word in singular or plural may do so.
Articles dont have gender or special plural forms in English, but, choice is
complicated by three factors:
Whether a noun is countable or uncountable.
Whether we are making general statements.
Whether we are referring to something the listener or reader can
positively identify or not.
EG
A/an is used only in front of a singular countable: a hat
a singular countable:
the hat
The can be used in front of a plural countable:
the hats
an uncountable:
the water
Examples:
Singular countable
a: The man who lives next door is an: My sister is an architect.
a doctor.
the: The architect who designed this block won a prize.
Plural countable
zero: the people who work next door are architects
the: the architects who designed this block won a prize
an uncountable nouns
zero: sugar is bad for you
the: the sugar you bought yesterday has got damp
The indefinite article: a/an
Basic uses of a/an
There is no difference in meaning between a/an. Whe using a/an we
must always bear in mind two basic facts:
1) a/an has an indefinite meaning (i.e. the person, animal or thing
referred to may be not to the listener or reader, so a/an has the sense
of any or I cant/wont tell you which, or it doesnt matter which
2) A/an can combine only with singular countable noun .
How to refer to singular and plural
To classify or identify something we can say:
Its a book (a/an + singular noun)
The plural of this
Theyre books (zero + plural noun)
To refer quantity, we can say:
Ive got a book (a/an + singular noun)
When the exact number is not important, we can use quantifiers like,
some, a few, a lot of, any, etc
Eg. Ive got some books (some + plural noun)
Classification: a/an to mean an example of that class
General statement and descriptive labels
When we say a rose is a flower, we mean that a rose is an
example of a class of items we call flowers. We use a/an in this way
when we wish to classify people, animals or things. We can classify
in two ways:
1) By means of generals statements
2) By means of labels
Generals statements: with a/an often take the form of definitions
A cat is a domestic animal
Definitions of this kind are possible because is easily think in one cat
at a time. If we make general statements with cats, we are referring to
the whole species, but meaning is the same:
Cats are domestic animals
Many uncountable nouns can be used after a/an when we are
referring to an example of that class
This is a very good coffee.
1- Descriptive labels: in English we need to use a/an when we are
attaching labels to people with regards to:
Origins: hes a Frenchman/an American
Occupation: shes a doctor / hes an electrician
Religion: shes a catholic / hes an Anglican
Politics: hes a Socialist / a Republican
Yes, Captain/Colonel/Major!
Times of the day and night: Combinations are common with: at,
by, after and before. Eg: at dawn/daybreak, by day/night, before
morning, etc.
For meals (breakfast, lunch, tea,etc): the zero articles is used
after have (Eg: Lets have breakfast) but note the use of the
where a meal is specified (the breakfast I ordered still hasnt
arrived.)
After what and such: the noun is stressed after what/such
is stressed before the noun:
a. Plural countable nouns:
What fools they are!
we had such problems getting trough Customs
b. singular uncountable nouns:
what freedom young people enjoy nowadays!
Young people enjoy such freedom nowadays!
8) To count or quantify an uncountable noun we use a unit of
measurement a measure word. For example, we cannot
usually say two breads because bread is uncountable. So, if
we want to specify a quantity of bread we use a measure word
such as loaf or slice in a structure like two loaves of bread
or two slices of bread We call this structure a partitive
structure.
The word partitive indicates that only part of a whole is
being referred to. The partitive structure using a measure word
is common with uncountable nouns, for example: two cups of
coffee, several games of tennis, a drop of water; but it
can also be used with countable nouns, for example: a series
of accidents, two boxes of matches, a can of worms
9) A pronoun is a word that can be used in place of a noun or a
noun phrase, as the word itself tell us: pro-noun. We do not
normally put a noun after a pronoun except in special
combinations such as you students, she-bear, etc.
this that
picture picture
We shall her ove
compare e r
wit ther
h e
these those
picture picture
s s
Indefinite pronouns
With all/ and both, we make plural and dual universal reference:
- The factory produces luxury cars and all are for export.
- Police interviewed the (two) suspects and both were arrested.
Bibliography
o Quirk A comprehensive grammar book
o Advanced Learners Grammar Book
o Learningenglish.britishcouncil.org
o Oxford Grammar Book