English determiners
An important role in English grammar is played by determiners – words or phrases that precede a noun or noun phrase and serve to express its reference in the context. The most common of these are the definite and indefinite articles, the and a. Other determiners in English include demonstratives such as this and that, possessives such as my and the boy's, and quantifiers such as all, many, and three.
In many contexts the presence of some determiner is required in order to form a complete noun phrase. However, in some cases complete noun phrases are formed without any determiner, as in the sentence Apples are fruit. Determiners can also be used in certain combinations, as in my many friends or all the chairs.
Overview
The terminology used in accounts of English grammar to refer to determiners is very varied. Sometimes the term is not used at all, and the words classed here as determiners are classed as adjectives. In the present article, a broad view is taken of what constitutes a determiner; it includes the articles and words and phrases that can substitute for them, as well as words and phrases serving as quantifiers. This means that determiners as construed here include words from the determiner class, such as the, this, my, and many, as well as nominal possessives, and other specifying or quantifying phrases such as more than three, almost all, and this size.Note that many words or phrases that serve as determiners can also play the role of pronouns; for example, the word all is a determiner in the sentences All men are equal and I know all the rules, but a pronoun in All's well that ends well. In other cases, there is a related but distinct pronoun form; for example, the determiners my and no have corresponding pronouns mine and none.
Determiners that consist of phrases rather than single words might be called determiner phrases, although this should probably be avoided as the term is also used to refer to a noun phrase headed by a determiner. An alternative term is phrasal determiners.
Common determiners
The following is a rough classification of determiners used in English, including both words and phrases:- Definite determiners, which imply that the referent of the resulting noun phrase is defined specifically:
- *The definite article the.
- *The demonstratives this and that, with respective plural forms these and those.
- *Possessives, including those corresponding to pronouns – my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose – and the Saxon genitives formed from other nouns, pronouns and noun phrases. These can be made more emphatic with the addition of own or very own.
- *Interrogatives which, what.
- *Relative determiners: which ; also whichever and whatever.
- Indefinite determiners:
- *The indefinite article a or an.
- *The word some, e.g., I have some money in the bank; Some people prefer dry wine.
- *The word any, often used in negative and interrogative contexts in place of the article-equivalent some. In interrogative sentences, some is used when the expected answer is positive whereas any is used when the response is uncertain . It can also be used to express alternative.
- Quantifiers, which quantify a noun:
- *Basic words indicating a large or small quantity: much/many, little/few, and their comparative and superlative forms more, most, less/fewer, least/fewest. Where two forms are given, the first is used with non-count nouns and the second with count nouns. The basic forms can be modified with adverbs, especially very, too and so. Note that unmodified much is quite rarely used in affirmative statements in colloquial English.
- *Phrases expressing similar meanings to the above: a lot of, lots of, plenty of, a great deal of, tons of, etc. Many such phrases can alternatively be analyzed as nouns followed by a preposition, but their treatment as phrasal determiners is supported by the fact that the resulting noun phrase takes the number of the following noun, not the noun in the phrase.
- *Words and phrases expressing some unspecified or probably quite small amount: a few/a little, several, a couple of, a bit of, a number of etc.
- *Cardinal numbers: zero, one, two, etc. In some analyses, these may not be treated as determiners.
- *Other phrases expressing precise quantity: a pair of, five litres of, etc.
- *Words and phrases expressing multiples or fractions: half, half of, double, twice, three times, twice as much, etc. Those like double and half are generally used in combination with definite determiners.
- *Words expressing maximum, sufficient or zero quantity: all, both, enough, sufficient, no.
- *Note that many of these quantifiers can be modified by adverbs and adverbial phrases such as almost, over, more than, less than, when the meaning is appropriate.
- Words that enumerate over a group or class, or indicate alternatives:
- *each, every
- *any, either, neither
- Personal determiners:
- *The words you and we/us, in phrases like we teachers; you guys can be analysed as determiners.
- Other cases:
- *The words such and exclamative what
- *Noun phrases used as determiners, such as this colour, what size and how many
- *Words such as same, other, certain, different, only, which serve a determining function, but are grammatically more likely to be classed simply as adjectives, in that they generally require another determiner to complete the phrase. Note that the indefinite article in combination with other is written as the single word another.
Zero determiner
In some contexts a complete noun phrase can exist without any determiner. The main types of such cases are:- with plural or uncountable nouns used to refer to a concept or members of a class generally: cars are useful ; happiness is contagious.
- with plural or uncountable nouns used to refer to some unspecified amount of something: there are cats in the kitchen; I noticed water on the floor.
- with many proper names: Tom Smith, Birmingham, Italy, Jupiter.
- with singular common nouns in some common expressions: smiling from ear to ear, leaving town today.
Combinations of determiners
Determiners can be used in certain combinations. Common examples are listed below:- A definite determiner can be followed by certain quantifiers.
- The words all and both can be followed by a definite determiner, which can also be followed by a quantifier as above.
- The word all can be followed by a cardinal number.
- The word some can be followed by a cardinal number.
- Words and phrases expressing fractions and multiples, such as half, double, twice, three times, etc. can be followed by a definite determiner: half a minute, double the risk, twice my age, three times my salary, three-quarters the diameter, etc.
- The words such and exclamative what can be followed by an indefinite article.
- The word many can be used with the indefinite article and a singular noun.
- The words each and every can be followed by a cardinal number or other expression of definite quantity.
As with other parts of speech, it is often possible to connect determiners of the same type with the conjunctions and and or: his and her children, two or three beans.
Determiners and adjectives
In traditional English grammar, determiners were not considered a separate part of speech – most of them would have been classed as adjectives. However there are certain differences between determiners and ordinary adjectives.- Determiners take the place of articles in noun phrases, whereas adjectives do not. For example, my house, but the big house.
- Adjectives can generally be used in combination without restriction, whereas only certain combinations of determiners are allowable. For example, a big green book is grammatical, but *every his book is not.
- Most adjectives can be used alone in predicative complement position, as in he is happy; determiners cannot, except where the same words are used as pronouns.
- Most adjectives have comparative and superlative forms, whereas determiners generally are not.
- Determiners often have corresponding pronouns, whereas adjectives do not.
- Adjectives can modify singular or plural nouns, whereas determiners are sometimes restricted to one or the other.
- It was so terrible a disease that...
- He was as rude a man as I have ever met.
- That was too good an opportunity to miss.
- I know how good a swimmer she is.