Determiners

English Grammar
What are Determiners?

 Determiners are group of words that

determine or limit the meaning of noun or
noun phrase in a sentence. E.g. – a, an, the,
twice, those, this, some etc.
 One or more determiners are used before a
noun to make it clear what noun refers to.
 Can I have some chocolates please?
 Determiner always comes before an adjective,
not after it. E.g. – a red pen (not, red a pen);
her new house (not, new her house)
General & Specific Determiners

General Determiners Specific Determiners

They are used in noun They are used in noun
phrases when we talk phrases when we talk
about people of things about specific
in an indefinite way determiners

Much, Many, Some, Few This, My

Differences between
Determiners and Adjectives
Adjective Determiner
It qualifies a noun. E.g. – He It limits the meaning of a
is a quiet boy. noun. E.g. – Most of the boys
love playing cricket.
Form of adjective can Determiners do not change.
change. E.g. – tall, taller, E.g. – some, many, few etc.
tallest
An adjective can be placed It can come only before
before or after noun. noun. E.g. – few books,
E.g. – fat girl, That girl is fat. second goal
It always comes after the It precedes other adjectives
Determiner. E.g. – Some good that accompany it. E.g. –
boys looked after her. many nice paintings
Categories of Determiners
1. Articles: There are two kinds of articles: the definite
article (the) and the indefinite article (a or an)
 Nouns can be found with or without articles.
 An – before vowels (a,e,I,o,u)

2. Possessives: my, our, your, his, her, their, its

 My writing is neater than yours.
 The dog ate its food quickly.
 His class are so lazy.
 Her singing was more tuneful than his.
 Their team beat ours.

3. Demonstratives: These are used to point out people or

things. E.g. - this, that, those, these
 This car is red.
 That is my bag.
 That is delicious. (pronoun not determiner)

THESE 3 ARE COLLECTIVELY CALLED AS REGULAR

DETERMINERS
Categories of Determiners CONTD…

 Number expressions/ Quantifiers: another, many, several,

some, no, any, few, enough, a number of, a lot of, lots of, some
of, many of, one, two, three
 Several dogs wandered off. (determiner)
 Several wandered off. (pronoun)
 Most children support Norwich. (determiner)
 Most support Norwich. (pronoun)

 Distributives: each, every, all, both, neither, either

 Each child received a present.
 I gave every plant some water.
 The room has door at either end. (both)

 Interrogative: They combine with nouns to form interrogative

expressions. E.g. – what, which
 What colour is the sky?
 Which girl is the tallest?
Determiners with Pronouns

In some cases determiners can be used with

pronouns.
 All of them were wrong.
 I would like that one.
 I will eat lots of those.
 She squashed five of these.
 The one I really wanted was lost.
Can you identify the Possessive
Determiners in the sentences below?

1. She polished his shoes then hers.

2. It’s a shame that its saddle is so small.
3. Her feet were smellier than his.
4. His cakes were sold whereas our biscuits weren’t.
5. Our job is to make sure their cars are cleaned properly.
6. Ours is not an easy task.
7. It was my word against his.
8. Your bedtime should be after hers.
Possessive determiners in red

1. She polished his shoes then hers.

2. It’s a shame that its saddle is so small.
3. Her feet were smellier than his.
4. His cakes were sold whereas our biscuits weren’t.
5. Our job is to make sure their cars are cleaned properly.
6. Ours is not an easy task.
7. It was my word against his.
8. Your bedtime should be after hers.
Can you identify the Demonstrative
Determiners in the sentences below?

1. I prefer this non-veg to that veg.

2. These grapes came out of that box.
3. I haven’t been doing much – just a bit of
this and that.
4. Those chocolates are just asking to be
eaten.
5. That’s an enormous spot on your face!
6. These are much tastier than those
apples.
Demonstrative Determiners in red

1. I prefer this non-veg to that veg.

2. These grapes came out of that box.
3. I haven’t been doing much – just a bit of
this and that.
4. Those chocolates are just asking to be
eaten.
5. That’s an enormous spot on your face!
6. These are much tastier than those
apples.
Some nouns are countable, others are not. You
can use some quantifiers with both sorts.

1. Did you have lots of fun on your holiday?

2. There is still some dirt on the table.
3. There are some people who couldn’t
care less.
4. We found many spiders in the bath.
5. There was no laughter in that house.

Which of the nouns (fun, dirt, people,

spiders and laughter) are countable?
Sometimes determiners use the
word ‘of’ before the noun.

1. Most of the crowd thought it was a

goal.
2. He ate some of the chocolate.
3. Many of the adverts were rubbish.
4. Half of the bread was mouldy.
5. He’s had plenty of time to finish it.
6. She wasted all of the money.
7. Some of the birds had flown.
Can you identify the Quantifier
Determiners in the sentences below?
1. He keeps six chocolates in a jar under his bed.
2. If you spent less time on your Xbox, you would
get more homework done.
3. She scored more in her second attempt than her
first.
4. In no time, he had plenty of apples in his
basket.
5. Several lions had escaped from the first cage.
6. Each child had enough to last a whole month.
7. Both had spent all their money before the 3rd
week in August.
Quantifier Determiners in red

1. He keeps six chocolates in a jar under his bed.

2. If you spent less time on your Xbox, you would
get more homework done.
3. She scored more in her second attempt than her
first.
4. In no time, he had plenty of apples in his
basket.
5. Several lions had escaped from the first cage.
6. Each child had enough to last a whole month.
7. Both had spent all their money before the 3rd
week in August.
Can you identify all the determiners below?

1. The heavy rain flattened their sunflowers.

2. Those four boys need to eat theirs now.
3. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
4. There is no time like the present.
5. A stitch in time saves nine.
6. Her new clothes were more expensive than
his.
7. Some people like these red apples but I
prefer those.
8. Mr Smith kept his cool and gave Jake his
fourth warning.
9. Can I have one of those please?
Determiners in red

1. The heavy rain flattened their sunflowers.

2. Those four boys need to eat theirs now.
3. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
4. There is no time like the present.
5. A stitch in time saves nine.
6. Her new clothes were more expensive than
his.
7. Some people like these red apples but I
prefer those.
8. Mr Smith kept his cool and gave Jake his
fourth warning.
9. Can I have one of those please?
Thank You !!
Any Queries/ Doubts?