Determiners

Determiners are words that introduce

a noun and provide some information
about it (but do NOT describe it).

Examples: the ball, his son, five cats,

more cars.

How do we identify a
determiner?

If a word can appear here _______, it is a

determiner:
1. ________ any common noun
Examples:
The thing, his things, five things, some things,
many things, a thing, several things, few
things, each thing, those things, their things,
etc.
Note: some determiners, like much, may
only introduce noncount nouns.

There are four types of

determiners:
Articles
Possessives
Demonstratives
Quantifiers

Articles
There are only three articles in English:

The, a, an

the is called the Definite Article:

It normally introduces a noun that is familiar
to the listener. Example: The earth is round.
the may introduce either a singular or a
plural noun.
a or an are called the Indefinite Article:
a or an normally introduce a noun that is
not yet familiar to the listener. Example:
I saw a new movie.
a or an may only introduce a singular
noun.

What is the difference between a and

an?

a goes before words that start with a

consonant sound.
Examples: a table, a chair,
and also a eulogy
an goes before words that start with
a vowel sound.
Examples: an apple, an umbrella,
and also an hour

Demonstratives
Demonstratives are words that
are used to point at someone or
something (whether its
concrete or abstract).
Examples: that book; this time;
these ideas; those chairs
There are only four demonstratives
in English:

Singular
Demonstratives:
This
That
Plural Demonstratives:
These
Those

In order to be called a DETERMINER,

a
demonstrative MUST be
followed by a noun-phrase:
1. I like this room.
this is a determiner in sentence (1).
2. I like this.
this is NOT a determiner in sentence (2).
How do we know?
Because determiners need to precede nounphrases! In sentence (2) no noun-phrase
follows the word this

Is the underlined word a

determiner?
1.
2.
3.
4.

John likes that movie.

That is the best.
That guy is nice.
John thinks that apples are tasty.

that in (4) is NOT a determiner,

because it is not used to point at
apples!

Possessives
Possessives are words that usually
indicate possession or belonging of
a noun.
Examples: his birthday, Sams
book, her idea, New Yorks subway
There are two kinds of possessives:
1. possessive determiner
pronouns

Possessive Pronouns
There are only seven possessive
determiner pronouns:
my; your; his ; her ; its ; our ;
their
Note:
-The difference between its and
its.

In order to be called a DETERMINER, a

possessive pronoun MUST be followed by a
noun-phrase:
1. His essay was the best.
His is a determiner in sentence (1).
2. His was the best essay.
His is NOT a determiner in sentence (2).
How do we know?
Because determiners need to precede
noun-phrases! In sentence (2) no nounphrase follows the word his.

Another way to test if a

possessive pronoun is a
determiner or not:
Replace his with her, and see if the
sentence is grammatical:
1. His essay was the best.
Her essay was the best.
2. His was the best exam.
*Her was the best exam.

Since in (2) the Test Sentence gets a

*, his in (2) is NOT a determiner.

Possessive Proper Nouns

A proper noun with apostrophe s
is a possessive proper noun
Examples:
Marys car, CUNYs students, Mr.
Smiths wife
(Note: These are Determiners,
and NOT proper nouns).

Quantifiers
Quantifiers are words that indicate the
quantity or amount of a noun.
Examples: three pencils; all countries;
some books; little time; each story.
Common Quantifiers:
All, any, both, each, either, enough,
every, few, little, most, much, neither,
no, several, some, any number (e.g. five,
twelve, etc.)

To conclude
The Determiners are:

Articles
Demonstratives
Possessives
Quantifiers