Determiner

Definition of Determiner

Determiners means indicating/identifying/indicating/determining etc. All the words in the sentence with the intention of indicating/identifying/determining the Noun by giving an indication about the Noun’s specificity/indeterminacy or quantity and providing additional information about the Noun are called Determiners.

Note the different uses of determiners

(1) Determiners sit before Singular Countable Noun. For example: She has a golden pen.

(2) Determiners sit before Plural Countable Nouns. For example: She has three pens.

(3) Determiner comes before Uncountable Noun. For example: She has little rice.

(4) Singular Countable Noun- Countable Noun is preceded by ‘one/a’ as determiners. For example: She wants to take a flower. Give any one you like.

(5) Plural Countable Noun-Understand Plural Countable in many cases ‘Some/ones’ sit before Noun as determiners. For example: She wants to take some books. (Give any one you like)

(6) Singular Countable Noun and Uncountable Noun sit before ‘any’ as determiners. Example: Any flowers (sing. count. noun) Any food (uncount. noun)

Note: Students should remember that determiner comes before Singular Countable Noun, Plural Countable Noun, Uncountable Noun. But determiner does not sit before Proper Noun.

Some of the most commonly used determiners are

(a) Article: A, an, the

(b) Demonstratives: This, These, That, Those (note, This/that precedes sing countable nouns, but These/those precedes plural countable nouns).

For example: This/that tree. These/that tree.

(c) Possessives: Your, his, her, their, my, our, its, Alam’s etc. determiner sits before singular countable noun, plural countable noun and uncountable noun.

For example: Your tree (singular count. noun), His tress (plural count. noun), Their taste (uncountable noun)

See More “Headword”

(d) Quantifiers: any, no, none, some, every, each, either, neither, much, little, enough, more, a lot of, less, many, most, few, a great number, several, plenty of, a great deal of, a good deal of, a good, great, a great amount of, lots of etc.

(e) Cardinal Numbers: One, two, three, four, five f

(f) Ordinal Numbers: First, second, third, fourth

(g) General Ordinals: Another, other, the other, further, next, last etc

(h) WH-determiners: What, whose, who, which, whatever, whichever, whatever, whoever

The type of Determiners that sit before Singular Countable Noun: each, either, neither, every, a, all, any, the last, half, the first, the second, the third, the fourth etc. no, one, the only, a certain, the least, some, such a, my, your, his, her etc. that, the, this, another, other, the very, the same, some, what, which, whose, who etc.

Some Exercise for you of Determiner

Here’s an exercise on determinants for all academic levels:

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate determiners (a, an, the):

I saw _ elephant at _ zoo yesterday.
Can I have _ apple from _ fruit basket?
My friend has __ interesting story to tell.
We are going to watch __ movie tonight.
She bought _ new dress for _ party.
There is _ cat sleeping on _ roof.
_ sun is shining brightly in _ sky.
Please pass me _ salt from _ table.
He found _ old map in _ attic.
_ birds are singing in _ trees.
Answers:

an; the
an; the
an
a
a; the
a; the
the the
the the
an; the
the the