“Determiners” English Grammar CL:10th English
What is a determiner?
A determiner, also known as a limiting adjective, is a word that appears before a noun,
providing clarifying context about the number, definiteness, or ownership of the noun. Here
are some examples of determiners in sentences:
The painting on the left is our favourite.
She bought three boxes of pasta.
I have gone to see that movie several times.
7 types of determiners
There are several common kinds of determiners, including articles, demonstrative
determiners (or demonstrative adjectives), interrogative determiners (interrogative
adjectives), possessive determiners (possessive adjectives), and quantifying determiners and
numbers.
1 Articles
An article is a determiner that precedes a noun or noun phrase and identifies it as either
specific or nonspecific. The definite article is the, and the indefinite articles are a and an.
An article can appear alone before the noun it modifies or in combination with one or more
descriptive adjectives.
The car was parked in front of the dilapidated brick building.
Working from a café is a great option—if you order food or coffee and can find a table
near an electrical outlet.
2 Demonstrative determiners
Demonstrative determiners, also known as demonstrative adjectives, communicate the
placement of a noun in space or time. The demonstrative determiners are this, that, these,
and those.
This cat is the one I was telling you about.
Let’s go to that restaurant again.
In those days, Enid wore a lot of bright colors.
If the group of demonstrative determiners looks familiar, that’s because they are the same
words as the demonstrative pronouns, which are used to replace an already mentioned or
implied word or phrase. In fact, demonstrative determiners are the adjectival forms of the
demonstrative pronouns, and they, too, refer to something that the listener or reader already
knows about or that is clear from the context. They just come before a noun, modifying it
instead of replacing it. Here are examples of the word these, used as a demonstrative
determiner.
We can’t see the lake because of these trees.
3 Distributive determiners
Distributive determiners refer to a group or individual parts within a group. Words
like each, every, all, and both are distributive determiners.
Be sure both kids get a bath tonight.
Each table in the cafeteria has a napkin dispenser on it.
4 Interrogative determiners
Interrogative determiners narrow down a noun’s attributes by asking a direct or an indirect
question. The interrogative determiners are whose, what, and which. As with the
demonstrative determiners and pronouns, the interrogative determiners are the adjective
forms of the interrogative pronouns. Here are three sentences using the three interrogative
determiners:
Whose shoes were left outside on the lawn?
What kind of person does something like that?
Max wondered aloud which taxi would arrive first.
5 Possessive determiners
Possessive determiners, also known as possessive adjectives, are the possessive forms of
the personal pronouns and can appear before a noun: my, your, his, her, its, our, their,
and whose. They tell us something about the ownership of the noun or a relationship it has
with another word in the sentence.
The person whose shoes are in the rain should bring them inside.
Gerald met his partner at a work event.
Where do your ideas for your writing come from?
The possessive forms of nouns are also sometimes considered to be possessive determiners:
The team met Gerald’s partner at a work event.
There are different schools of thought about whether possessive adjectives should be
considered determiners at all; some argue that they are descriptive and thus should be
classified as true adjectives.
6 Quantifying determiners and numbers
Quantifying determiners specify something about the nouns they appear in front of by
grouping them together or indicating how much or how many of them there are. They include
words like many, some, few, any, all, and several.
Mirin hasn’t seen many movies lately.
I made it to the pool to swim laps several days last week.
There are few things Xan enjoys more than mint chocolate-chip ice cream.
When used as determiners, numbers, both cardinal and ordinal, also narrow down nouns and
pronouns to specific amounts:
Sima was late to class three times this semester.
If there is a fourth time, Sima’s grade may be affected.
7 Relative determiners
Relative determiners, also known as relative adjectives, specify something about nouns in
noun phrases that introduce relative dependent clauses. The relative determiners
are what, whatever, which, and whichever. They are closely related to the relative pronouns.
Here are some examples:
Please sit in whichever seat you like.
Jean will let us know what day they are arriving.
Determiners vs. descriptive adjectives
As we have seen, determiners function like adjectives do in that they modify nouns and
pronouns, but they are not descriptive in the way that words referred to as “true” adjectives
are. There are a few other things to know about the way determiners behave differently from
descriptive adjectives that will help you know how to use them correctly.
Placement of determiners
When both a determiner and a descriptive adjective appear before the same noun, the
determiner always comes first:
Red a dress is a festive choice.
A red dress is a festive choice.
Hot, humid, these days are starting to wear me down.
These hot, humid days are starting to wear me down.
Young few people listen to swing music nowadays.
Few young people listen to swing music nowadays.