Definition and Examples of Determiners in English

Definition and Examples of Determiners in English In English  grammar, a determiner is a word or a group of words that specifies, identifies, or quantifies the noun  or noun phrase  that follows it. It is also known as a  prenominal modifier. Basically, determiners come at the start of a noun phrase and tell more about what comes after it (or them, in the case of a phrase that has more than one determiner before the noun). Determiners include articles  (a, an, the),  cardinal numbers (one, two, three...) and ordinal numbers (first, second, third...), demonstratives  (this, that, these, those),  partitives  (some of, piece of, and others),  quantifiers  (most, all, and others), difference words (other, another), and possessive determiners  (my, your, his, her, its, our,  their). Authors Martha Kolln and Robert Funk describe them this way: Determiners signal nouns in a variety of ways: They may define the relationship of the noun to the speaker or listener (or reader); they may identify the noun as  specific  or  general; they may  quantify  it specifically or refer to quantity in general. (Understanding English Grammar,  5th ed. Allyn and Bacon, 1998) A Slippery Grammatical Label Determiners are functional elements of structure and not formal  word classes, because the group of words contains some items that are nouns, some that are pronouns, and some that are adjectives. Authors Sylvia Chalker and Edmund Weiner explain: Determiners  are sometimes called  limiting adjectives  in  traditional grammar. However, they not only differ from the class of  adjectives  by  meaning,  but also must normally precede ordinary adjectives in  noun phrase  structure. Further, among determiners  themselves  there are co-occurrence restrictions and fairly strict rules of  word order. (Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar. Oxford University Press, 1994) Rules on Multiple Determiners English has rules on word order, such as when there are multiple adjectives in a row modifying the same noun (quantity before age, before color, for example). The same goes for when you use multiple determiners in a row.   When there is more than one determiner, follow these useful rules:a) Place all and both in front of other determiners.E.g. We ate all the food. Both my sons are at college.b) Place what and such in front of a and an in exclamations.E.g. What an awful day! Ive never seen such a crowd!c) Place many, much, more, most, few, little after other determiners.E.g. His many successes made him famous. They have no more food. What little money I have is yours.​   (Geoffrey N. Leech, Benita Cruickshank, and Roz IvaniÄ , An A-Z of English Grammar Usage, 2nd ed. Longman, 2001) Count and Noncount Nouns Some determiners work with count nouns, and some dont. For example,  many  attaches  to count nouns, such as The child had  many  marbles. In contrast, you would not use  much  to attach to count nouns such as  marbles  but noncount nouns such as  work,  for example in, The college student had  much  work to finish before finals week. Other determiners work with either one, such as all: The child had  all  the marbles and The college student had  all the  work to finish before finals week.