1.

Specific and general determiners

Level: beginner
Determiners are words which come at the beginning of noun phrases. They
tell us whether a noun phrase is specific or general.

Specific determiners
The specific determiners are:

 the definite article: the

 possessives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose
 demonstratives: this, that, these, those

We use a specific determiner when we believe the listener/reader

knows exactly what we are referring to:
Can you pass me the salt, please?
Thank you very much for your letter.
Whose coat is this?
Look at those lovely flowers.
Specific determiners 1
Specific determiners 2
Specific determiners 3
Specific determiners 4

General determiners
We use a general determiner when we are talking about things in general and
the listener/reader does not know exactly what we are referring to.
The general determiners are:
 0

(
n
o

d
e
t
e
r
m
i
n
e
r
)

The most frequent general determiner is the indefinite article a/an used
with singular nouns:
A man came this morning and left a parcel.
He was wearing a big coat and a cap.
We use no determiner with plural nouns and uncount nouns:
Girls normally do better in school than boys. (plural nouns)
Milk is very good for you. (uncount noun)
Health and education are very important. (uncount nouns)
We use the general determiner any with a singular noun or an uncount noun
when we are talking about all of those people or things:
It's very easy. Any child can do it. = All children can do it.
With a full licence you are allowed to drive any car. = all cars
I like bananas, oranges, apples – any fruit. = all kinds of fruit
(Note that any is also used as a quantifier in negative and interrogative
sentences.)
We use the general determiner another to talk about an additional person or
thing:
Would you like another glass of wine?
The plural form of another is other:
I spoke to John, Helen and a few other friends.

2.The indefinite article: 'a' and 'an'

Level: beginner
We use the indefinite article, a/an, with singular nouns when
the listener/reader does not know exactly which one we are referring to:
Police are searching for a 14-year-old girl.
We also use it to show that the person or thing is one of a group:
She is a pupil at London Road School.
Police have been looking for a 14-year-old girl who has been missing since
Friday.
Jenny Brown is a pupil at London Road School. She is 1.6 metres tall, with
short, blonde hair. When she left home, she was wearing a blue jacket, a
blue and white blouse, dark blue jeans and blue shoes.
Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800 349 781.
We do not use an indefinite article with plural nouns or uncount nouns:
She was wearing blue shoes. (plural noun)
She has short, blonde hair. (uncount noun)
The indefinite article 1
The indefinite article 2
The indefinite article 3
We use a before a consonant sound:

a banana (starts with /b/) a university (starts with /j/)

and an before a vowel sound:

an orange (starts with /o/) an hour (starts with /au/)

Note that the choice of a or an depends on sound, not spelling.

3.The definite article: 'the'

Level: beginner
The definite article the is the most frequent word in English.
We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe
the listener/reader knows exactly what we are referring to:

 because there is only one:

The Pope is visiting Russia.

The moon is very bright tonight.
Who is the president of France?
This is why we use the definite article with a superlative adjective:
He is the tallest boy in the class.
It is the oldest building in the town.

 because there is only one in that context:

We live in a small house next to the church. (= the church in our village)
Dad, can I borrow the car? (= the car that belongs to our family)
When we stayed at my grandmother’s house, we went to the beach every
day. (= the beach near my grandmother’s house)
Look at the boy over there. (= the boy I am pointing at)

 because we have already mentioned it:

A young man got a nasty shock when he tried to rob a jewellery shop in
Richmond. The man used a heavy hammer to smash the windows in the
shop.
We also use the definite article:

 to say something about all the things referred to by a noun:

The wolf is not really a dangerous animal. (= Wolves are not really
dangerous animals.)
The kangaroo is found only in Australia. (= Kangaroos are found only in
Australia.)
The heart pumps blood around the body. (= Hearts pump blood around
bodies.)
We use the definite article in this way to talk about musical instruments:
Joe plays the piano really well.
She is learning the guitar.

 to refer to a system or service:

How long does it take on the train?

I heard it on the radio.
You should tell the police.
The definite article the 1
The definite article the 2
The definite article the 3

Level: intermediate
We can also use the definite article
with adjectives like rich, poor, elderly and unemployed to talk about groups of
people:
Life can be very hard for the poor.
I think the rich should pay more taxes.
She works for a group to help the disabled.

Level: beginner
The definite article with names
We do not normally use the definite article with names:
William Shakespeare wrote Hamlet.
Paris is the capital of France.
Iran is in Asia.
But we do use the definite article with:

 countries whose names include words

like kingdom, states or republic:

the United Kingdom the Kingdom of Bhutan

the United States the People's Republic of China

 countries which have plural nouns as their names:

the Netherlands the Philippines

 geographical features, such as mountain ranges, groups of islands,

rivers, seas, oceans and canals:

the Himalayas the Canaries the Atlantic (Ocean) the Amazon t

  newspapers:

The Times The Washington Post

 well-known buildings or works of art:

the Empire State Building the Taj Mahal the Mo

 organisations:

the United Nations the Seamen's Union

 hotels, pubs and restaurants:

the Ritz the Ritz Hotel the King's Head th

But note that we do not use the definite article if the name of the hotel or
restaurant is the name of the owner:

Brown's Brown's Hotel Morel's Morel's Restau

  families:

the Obamas the Jacksons

4. Interrogative determiners: 'which'

and 'what'

Level: intermediate
The interrogative determiners are which and what.
which is a specific determiner
Here are three books. Which book do you think is the most interesting?
They have four boys. Which boy is the oldest?
I can’t remember which house Janet lives in.
Which restaurant did you go to?

what is a general determiner

What food do you like?
I don’t know what job she does.

5.Quantifiers
Level: beginner
We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about
the number of something: how much or how many.
Sometimes we use a quantifier in the place of a determiner:

Most children start school at the age of five.

We ate some bread and butter.
We saw lots of birds.

Quantifiers with count and uncount

nouns
We can use these quantifiers with both count and uncount nouns:

all some more a lot of e

no any most lots of le

We have lots of time.

Joe has lots of friends.
I can't go out. I've got no money.
There was a lot of food but no drinks.
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 1
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 2
Level: intermediate
These more colloquial forms are also used with both count and uncount
nouns:
 plenty of heaps of a load of loads of

We have loads of time.

Joe has plenty of friends.
There was heaps of food.
Level: beginner

some and any

We do not normally use the quantifier some in negative and
interrogative sentences. We normally use any:
Do you have any children?
Did you see any friends?
We don't have any children.
I didn't see any friends.
We saw some lions at the zoo, but we didn't see any tigers.
but we can use some for offers and requests:
Would you like some tea?
I want some apples, please.
some and any 1
some and any 2

Quantifiers with count nouns

Some quantifiers can be used only with count nouns:

(not) many each either (a

 several both neither fe

These more colloquial forms are used only with count nouns:

a couple of hundreds of thousands of

I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.

There were hundreds of people at the meeting.

Quantifiers with uncount nouns

Some quantifiers can be used only with uncount nouns:

(not) much a bit of a little

Would you like a little wine?

Could I have a bit of butter, please?
These quantifiers are used particularly with abstract nouns such
as time, money and trouble:

a great deal of a good deal of

It will probably cost a great deal of money.

He spent a good deal of time watching television.
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 3
Quantifiers with count and uncount nouns 4
Level: intermediate

Members of groups
We put a noun directly after a quantifier when we are talking about members
of a group in general:
Few snakes are dangerous.
Most children like chocolate.
I never have enough money.
but if we are talking about members of a specific group, we use of the as
well:
Few of the snakes in this zoo are dangerous.
Most of the boys at my school play football.
He’s spent all (of) the money that we gave him.
Both (of) the chairs in my office are broken.
Note: with all and both, we don’t need to use of. We can say all the
… and both the … .

both, either and neither

If we are talking about two people or things, we use the
quantifiers both, either and neither:

One supermarket Two supermarkets More than two

The supermarket Both the supermarkets All the superm

was closed. were closed. were closed.

The supermarket Neither of the supermarkets None of the su

 wasn’t open. was open. were open.

I don’t think the I don’t think either of the I don’t think an

supermarket supermarkets supermarkets
was open. was open. were open.

Note that nouns with both have a plural verb but nouns
with either and neither have a singular verb.
both, either and neither 1
both, either and neither 2

every and each

We use the quantifiers every and each with singular nouns to mean all:
There was a party in every street. (= There were parties in all the streets.)
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (= All the shops were decorated with
flowers.)
Each child was given a prize. (= All the children were given a prize.)
There was a prize in each competition. (= There were prizes in all the
competitions.)
We often use every to talk about times like days, weeks and years:
When we were children, we had holidays at our grandmother's every year.
When we stayed at my grandmother's house, we went to the beach every
day.
We visit our daughter every Christmas.
We do not use a determiner with every and each:
Every shop was decorated with flowers. (NOT The every shop)
Each child was given a prize. (NOT The each child)