Determiners
What Is a Determiner? – Meaning and Definition
A determiner is a word that is used to modify or introduce the noun in a
sentence. It mostly acts like an adjective in that it refers to the noun.
Determiners include articles, adjectives of quantity, demonstrative
adjectives, possessive adjectives, etc. A determiner need not always be in the
beginning of a sentence; it can be used with nouns placed anywhere in the
sentence.
A determiner, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is defined as “a word
such as the, some, my, etc. that comes before a noun to show how the noun is
being used”, and according to the Cambridge Dictionary, a determiner is “a word
that is used before a noun to show which particular example of the noun you
are referring to”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a determiner as “a
word (such as an article, possessive, demonstrative, or quantifier) that makes
specific the denotation of a noun phrase”, and the Collins Dictionary defines it
as “a word which is used at the beginning of a noun group to indicate, for
example, which thing you are referring to or whether you are referring to one
thing or several.”
Types of Determiners
Determiners are classified into four main types namely,
• Articles (such as ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’)
• Possessive Determiners (such as ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’, ‘our’ and
‘their’)
• Demonstrative Determiners (such as ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’ and ‘these’)
• Quantifiers (such as ‘some’, ‘a few’, ‘many’, ‘a little’, ‘little’, ‘few’, ‘none’,
etc)
• Distributive Determiners (such as ‘every’, ‘each’, ‘either’, ‘neither’, ‘both’,
‘all’, ‘half’, etc.)
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Examples of Determiners – Learn How They Are Used
Here are a few examples of determiners to help you learn how exactly they are
used in sentences.
• My house is being renovated.
• This movie is interesting.
• I bought some apples and mangoes.
• She gifted me an autographed copy of my favourite book.
• Vanessa liked the dress I gave her.
• Santana and Brittany sang a song together.
• The Glee Club of William McKinley High School won the International
Acapella Championship.
• Rachel offered to make the dessert.
• A few girls have gone to practise for the Teachers day programme.
• I need those books I had given you last month.