Determiners

Question 1

What are Articles, determiners, and quantifiers?

Answer 1

The little words that precede and modify nouns
“The teacher, a college, a bit of honey, that person, those people, whatever purpose, either way, your choice.”

Question 2

Articles, determiners, and quantifiers tell us what?

Answer 2

They can tell a reader whether the author is referring to a specific or general thing (the garage out back; A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!); or how much or how many (lots of trees, several books, a great deal of confusion).

Question 3

How many articles are there and what are they?

Answer 3

3: The, a, and an.

Question 4

What are the 6 categories of determiners?

Answer 4

1. Articles: a, an, the
2. Possessive Nouns: Joe’s, the priest’s, etc.
3. Possessive Pronouns: his, your, their, etc.
4. Numbers: one, two, three, etc.
5. Indefinite Pronouns: few, more, each, every, either, all, both, some, any, etc.
6. Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those, such

Question 5

What are quantifiers?

Answer 5

Like articles, they are words that precede and modify nouns. They tell us how many or how much.

Question 6

What is the difference between count and non count nouns?

Answer 6

Count nouns can be counted from one to anything else.
Noncount nouns cannot be counted or pluralized.

Question 7

In formal academic writing it is usually better to use which two words over the phrases “a lot of”, “lots of”, and “plenty of”.

Answer 7

Many and Much
“There are many trees in this forest.” > “There are a lot of trees in this forest.”

Question 8

What is the difference between “a little” and “little”?

Answer 8

“A little” means that there is not much, but it might be enough.
“Little” means there is not enough.
The same principle applies to “a few” and “few”

Question 9

Unless it is combined with “of”, the quantifier “much” is reserved for what?

Answer 9

Questions and negative statements.
“How much snow fell yesterday?”
“Not much.”

Question 10

The quantifier “most of the” must include the definite article “the” when it modifies what?

Answer 10

A specific noun, count noun and noncount nouns both.

Question 11

When you are using the quantifier “most of the” with a general plural noun what do you drop?

Answer 11

The “of the”: “Most colleges have their own admissions policy.”
“Most students apply to several colleges.”

Question 12

An indefinite article (a, an) is sometimes used in conjunction with the quantifier “many”, thus joining a plural quantifier with a singular noun. Does this take a singular or plural verb?

Answer 12

A singular verb: “Many a young man has fallen in love with her golden hair.”
“Many an apple has fallen by October.”

Question 13

Predeterminers are determiners that occur prior to other determiners,. This class of words includes?

Answer 13

1. Multipliers: “Double, twice, four/five times, etc.”
2. Fractional Expressions: “One-third, three-quarters, etc.
3. The words “both”, “half”, and “all”
4. Intensifiers such as: “quite, rather, and “such”.

Question 14

What do multipliers do?

Answer 14

They precede plural count and mass count nouns and occur with singular count nouns denoting number or amount:
“This van holds three times the passengers as that sports car.” “My wife is making twice my salary.”

Question 15

Fractional expressions have a similar construction to multipliers. What word can be added to the construction of fractional expressions?

Answer 15

Of. “Charlie finished in one-fourth of the time his brother took.”

Question 16

The intensifiers in predeterminers occur primarily in what style of speech and writing?

Answer 16

Casual speech and writing.
“This room is rather a mess, isn’t it?”
“What an idiot he turned out to be.”

Question 17

Half, both, and all can occur with singular and plural count nouns, but only two of them can occur with mass nouns. Which of these two occur with with mass nouns?

Answer 17

Half and All
“Half of the grain”
“All of the grain”

Question 18

The “of construction” of predeterminers is required with what nouns?

Answer 18

Personal pronouns: “both of them” “all of it”

Question 19

What are the three uses for the definite article “the”?

Answer 19

1. Referring to something that is one of a kind: “The Moon circles the Earth.”
2. Required when the noun it refers to represents something in the abstract: “The United States has encouraged the use of the private automobile as opposed to the use of public transit.”
3. The is required when the noun it refers to represents something named earlier in the text: “The Titanic was massive, yet this did not stop the ship from sinking.”

Question 20

A and an are called indefinite articles why?

Answer 20

Because they are used to refer to something in a less specific manner (an unspecified count noun).
“An army” “A fleet”

Question 21

Articles are listed among the “noun markers” or “determiners” because of what?

Answer 21

Because they are almost invariable followed by a noun (or something else acting as a noun).

Question 22

A and an are used for two different types of singular count nouns. Those that begin with consonants and those that begin with vowels or vowel like sounds, which goes where?

Answer 22

A is used before singular count nouns that begin with consonants: “A cow, a sheep, a barn”
An is used before singular count nouns that begin with vowels or vowel-like sounds: “An apple, an hour, an idiot”

Question 23

When we first refer to something in written text, we often use an indefinite article to modify it. “A newspaper has an obligation to seek out and tell the truth.” When we refer to this newspaper later on, do we use an indefinite or definite article?

Answer 23

We use the definite article when referring to something mentioned earlier in the text. “There are situations, however, when the newspaper must determine whether the public’s safety is jeopardized by knowing the truth.”

Question 24

There is an exception to using definite articles on something that was mentioned earlier in the text. What is this exception?

Answer 24

When a modifier appears between the article and the noun, the subsequent article will continue to be indefinite:
“I’d like a big glass of orange juice please.” John said.
“I put a big glass of juice on the counter already.” Sheila replied.

Question 25

What is the difference between a generic indefinite pronoun and a normal indefinite pronoun?

Answer 25

A normal indefinite pronoun refers to any of that class: “I want to buy a beagle, and any old beagle will do.”
A generic indefinite pronoun refers to all members of that class: “A beagle makes a great hunting dog and family companion.”

Question 26

What are the 5 categories of proper nouns that we use the definite article “the” with?

Answer 26

1.Geographical places: “the Sea of Japan”
2. Pluralized names (geographic, family, teams): “the Netherlands, the Bahamas”
3. Public institutions/facilities/groups: “the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Sheraton, the Presbyterian Church”
4. Newspapers: “the Hartford Courant, the Times”
5. Nouns followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with “of”: “the leader of the gang, the president of our club”

Question 27

What is the reason that a definite article would not be used when referring to geographical places?

Answer 27

When the main part of the proper noun seems to be modified by an earlier attributive noun or adjective: “We went swimming at Ocean Park.” (Usually referred to as “the Ocean Park”)

Question 28

Abstract nouns are used with articles how much?

Answer 28

Sometimes yes: “Injustice was widespread within the judicial system itself. He implored the judge to correct the injustice.”
Sometimes no: The storm upset my peace of mind. He was missing just one thing: peace of mind.”

Question 29

What are Zero Articles?

Answer 29

Nouns that never use articles.

Question 30

What are the three basic types of Zero Articles?

Answer 30

1. Names of languages: “He was learning Chinese.”
2. The names of sports: “She plays badminton and basketball.”
3. Academic subjects: “She’s taking economics and math. Her major is Religious Studies.”

Question 31

When they are generic, non count nouns and sometimes plural count-nouns are used without articles. But they have to be used with an article if what phrase comes after the noun?

Answer 31

Of phrase.
“We adore the music of the Baroque.” > “We adore Baroque music.”

Question 32

When a generic noun is used without an article and then referred to in a subsequent reference, it becomes what and requires what?

Answer 32

It will have become specific and will require a definite article.
“The Data Center installed computers in the Learning Center this summer. The computers, unfortunately, don’t work.”

Question 33

Common count nouns are used without articles in certain special situations. List all 6 of these situations.

Answer 33

1. Idiomatic expressions using “be” and “go”: “We’ll go by train” (as opposed to “We’ll take the train). “He must be in school.”
2. With Seasons: “In spring, we like to clean the house.”
3. With institutions: “He’s in church/college/jail/class.”
4. With Meals: “Breakfast was delicious.”
5. With diseases: He’s dying of pneumonia.”
6. With time of day: “We traveled mostly by night.”