Determiners Flashcards
Determiner
Typically precede Ns
Clarify or modify the meaning of Ns
Indicate whether N refers to -> a concrete thing/ person, a close/distant X, a specific number/quantity, a part of X
Include -> articles, demonstrative/possessive pronouns, quantifiers ( a few, many), distributives (each,any, either), wh- determiners, numerals
Articles
3 articles (a,an,the), 4 choices to make( a,an,the ×)
Indefinite article
A - before cons. sounds, an - before vowel sounds
Buy a house in an hour, An MoD official visited an NBC facility of a NATO country
Used with sg count.noun, mention sth for the first time ( they bought a boat. The boat is small), as an example of sth ( a rose is a flower)
A label ( she’s an expert), to mean one when it doesn’t matter which one ( can I have an apple?)
Definite article
The
Used with sg and pl count. and uncount. N, person/thing known from context ( the boat is expensive), only one such thing/ person ( the sun, the Queen), superlative ( the best), time expression ( in the middle/end, in the morning, in the spring, the 24 of July, at the moment, for the time being)
Possessives and demonstratives
Possessive-> indicate ownership ( my, your, his, her, its, our)
Demonstrative-> point at items, making them more specific (this, that, these, those)
Quantifiers
Indicate how much/many there are -> a few, a little, many, much, a lot of, some, any, enough, all, every,..
Distributives
Show different ways of looking at individuals within a group (how something is distributed/shared/divided)
Refer to a group or every individual in the group ( each, every, all, half, either,neither)
Numerals as determiners
Cardinal numbers (refer to an exact number ) -> two, three, twenty books
Ordinal numbers (refer to an order in a sentence) -> first, second, 1st, 2nd
Subclass of ordinals ( words not directly related to numbers -> general ordinals) -> last, later, next, previous
Wh-/difference/defining determiner
Wh- primarily to make question (What size is it?)
Difference -> other (sg. or pl.), another (sg) -> refer to something different or remaining ( what other colours can I get, is there another colour )
Defining -> which,whose -> indicate which thing or person is being referred to ( this is the house which I used to live, this is the man whose window I broke)
Ordering of determiners
Functional elements, normally precede adjectives in NPs, multiple determiners in a row -> all and both in front of other determiners (we ate all the food), what and such in front of a/an in exclamation (what an awful day), quantifiers after other determiners ( his many friends )
Classes of determiners
Predeterminers -> specify quantity in the noun which follows them ( multiplying expressions -> twice my salary, fraction -> half my salary, all/both -> both my parents
Central determiners -> articles, possessive, demonstrative (all the book, half a tank, all my life)
Postdeterminers -> cardinals, general ordinals, quantifiers ( the two brothers, my next stop)
