Determiner & Quantifier

Determiner

Definition: Nouns are often preceded by the words "the", "a", or "an". These words are called "determiners". They indicate the kind of reference which the noun has. The determiner "the" is known as the "definite article". It is used before both singular and plural nouns. The determiner "a" (or "an", when the following noun begins with a vowel) is the "indefinite article". It is used when the noun is singular. Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type. You use a "specific determiner" when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about. The specific determiners are: The definite article : the Demonstratives : this, that, these, those Possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their For example: The dog barked at the boy. These apples are rotten. Their bus was late. You use "general determiners" to talk about people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. The general determiners are: the indefinite articles : a, an a few a little all another any both each either enough every few fewer less little many more most much neither no other several some For example: A man sat under an umbrella. Have you got any English books that I could have? There is enough food to feed everyone.

General and specific determiners

Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.
They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.
Determiners are either 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
• interrogatives: which

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?
Look at those lovely flowers.
Thank you very much for your letter.
Whose coat is this?

General determiners:

The general determiners are:

• a; an; any; another; other; what

When we are talking about things in general and the listener/reader does not know exactly what we are referring to, we can use a uncount noun or a plural noun with no determiner:

Milk is very good for you. (= uncount noun)
Health and education are very important. (= 2 uncount nouns)
Girls normally do better in school than boys. (= plural nouns with no determiner)

… or you can use a singular noun with the indefinite article a or an:

A woman was lifted to safety by a helicopter.
A man climbing nearby saw the accident.

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.
I like beef, lamb, pork - any meat.

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.

Quantifiers

We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how much or how many.

interrogative determiners: which and what

We use "which" as a determiner to ask a question about a specific group of people or things:

Which restaurant did you go to?
Which countries in South America have you visited?

When we are asking a general question we use "what" as a determiner:

What films do you like?
What university did you go to?

Definition: When words have a grammatical relationship which affects the form of one or more of the elements then they agree. We can also say that Agreement is a form of cross-reference among all parts of a sentence. Note: Agreement is also known in some texts as Concord Some of the most types of grammatical agreements are: Grammatical person: Example: You are VS she is. Grammatical number: Example: One cat VS Ten cats. Grammatical gender: Example: Jose loves his girlfriend VS Maria loves her dog. Grammatical case: Example: I played with you VS She played with me. The following example will teach us to understand in a better way this important topic. Example: Five Cows Five Cows shows agreement because the Noun has the Plural Inflection, which is required by the Number. It is another way of saying Concord. Twenty cats In this example, twenty cats shows agreement because the Noun has the Plural Inflection, which is required by the number.

Article

Definition: English has two types of articles: definite (the) and indefinite (a, an.) The use of these articles depends mainly on whether you are referring to any member of a group, or to a specific member of a group: Indefinite articles - a and an (determiners) A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the person you are communicating with. A and an are used before nouns that introduce something or someone you have not mentioned before: Examples: I ate an apple this morning I bought a pet for my son You use a when the noun you are referring to begins with a consonant (b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y or z), for example, "a city" and "a factory You use an when the noun you are referring to begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u) Pronunciation changes this rule: If the next word begins with a consonant sound when we say it, for example, "university" then we use a. If the next word begins with a vowel sound when we say it, for example "hour" then we use an. Examples: We say "university" with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "youniversity". So, "a university" is correct. We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our". So, "an hour" is correct. Definite Article - the (determiners) You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular person/thing you are talking about. Example: The dog (that specific dog) The apple (that specific apple) You should also use the when you have already mentioned the thing you are talking about. Example: She's got two children; a girl and a boy. The girl's eight and the boy's fourteen. We use the to talk about geographical points on the globe. Example: the Middle East, the West We use the to talk about rivers, oceans and seas Example: the Nile, the Pacific We also use the before certain nouns when we know there is only one of a particular thing. Example: the rain, the sun, the wind However if you want to describe a particular instance of these you should use a/an. Example: "I could hear the wind." / "There's a cold wind blowing."

indefinite article: a and an

1. We use the indefinite article, a/an, with count nouns when the hearer/reader does not know exactly which one we are referring to:

Police are searching for a 14 year-old girl.

2. We also use it to show the person or thing is one of a group:

She is a pupil at London Road School.

Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday. Jenny Brown, a pupil at London Road School, is described as 1.6 metres tall with short blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a blue and white blouse and dark blue jeans and blue shoes. Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800349781.

3. We do not use an indefinite article with plural nouns and uncount nouns:

She was wearing blue shoes. (= plural noun)
She has short blonde hair. (= uncount noun)

Police have been searching for a 14 year-old girl who has been missing since Friday. Jenny Brown, a pupil at London Road School, is described as 1.6 metres tall with short blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a blue jacket, a blue and white blouse and dark blue jeans and blue shoes. Anyone who has information should contact the local police on 0800349781.

4. We use a/an to say what someone is or what job they do:

My brother is a doctor.
George is a student.

5. We use a/an with a singular noun to say something about all things of that kind:

A man needs friends. (= All men need friends)
A dog likes to eat meat. (= All dogs like to eat meat)

definite article: the

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 hearer/reader knows exactly what we are referring to.
• because there is only one:

The Pope is visiting Russia.
The moon is very bright tonight.
The Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979.

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 place or in those surroundings:

We live in a small village 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 in the blue shirt over there.	=	(the boy I am pointing at)

• because we have already mentioned it:

A woman who fell 10 metres from High Peak was lifted to safety by a helicopter. The woman fell while climbing.
The rescue is the latest in a series of incidents on High Peak. In January last year two men walking on the peak were killed in a fall. 

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.(= George can play any piano)
She is learning the guitar.(= She is learning to play any 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.

• With adjectives like rich, poor, elderly, 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.

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 Nepal; 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; the Atlantic Ocean; the Amazon; the Panama Canal.

• newspapers:

The Times; The Washington Post

• well known buildings or works of art:

the Empire State Building; the Taj Mahal; the Mona Lisa; the Sunflowers

• organisations:

the United Nations; the Seamen’s Union

• hotels, pubs and restaurants*:

the Ritz; the Ritz Hotel; the King’s Head; the Déjà Vu

*Note: We do not use the definite article if the name of the hotel or restaurant is the name of the owner, e.g.,Brown’s; Brown’s Hotel; Morel’s; Morel’s Restaurant, etc.

• families:

the Obamas; the Jacksons

quantifiers

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.

We use these quantifiers with both count and uncount nouns:

all	any	enough	less	a lot of	lots of
more	most	no	none of	some

and some more colloquial forms:

plenty of

heaps of

a load of

loads of

tons of

etc.

Some quantifiers can be used only with count nouns:

both

each

either

(a) few

fewer

neither

several

and some more colloquial forms:

a couple of

hundreds of

thousands of

etc.

Some quantifiers can be used only with uncount nouns:

a little

(not) much

a bit of

And, particularly with abstract nouns such as time, money, trouble, etc:, we often use:

a great deal of

a good deal of

Members of groups

You can put a noun after a quantifier when you are talking about members of a group in general…

Few snakes are dangerous.
Both brothers work with their father.
I never have enough money.

…but if you are talking about a specific group of people or things, use of the … as well

Few of the snakes are dangerous.
All of the children live at home.
He has spent all of his money.

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

One supermarket	Two supermarkets*	More than two supermarkets
The supermarket was closed The supermarket wasn't open I don’t think the supermarket was open.	Both the supermarkets were closed. Neither of the supermarkets was open. I don’t think either of the supermarkets was open.	All the supermarkets were closed None of the supermarkets were open I don't think any of the supermarkets were open

*Nouns with either and neither have a singular verb.

Singular quantifiers:

We use every or each with a singular noun 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.

BUT: We do not use a determiner with every and each. We do not say:

The every shop was decorated with flowers.
The each child was given a prize.