Determiners
Determiners :
Determiners are words that are used with nouns to clarify the noun.
They can clarify something or someone.
For example :
This boy
That girl
All dogs
They can clarify the amount of people, things or other nouns.
For example :
Some cats
No table
Few men
They can clarify possessives.
For example :
My book
Your mother
Their house
Her gloves
They can clarify something or someone specific.
For example :
The duck
The cow
The book
They can clarify someone or something not specific.
For example :
A horse
An orange
Any temple
Types of Determiners
There are different types of determiners. The type of determiner depends on the type of noun.
Singular nouns always need a determiner.
For example :
We do not say….Tree has no leaves.
Rather, we say….
The tree has no leaves.
(Or)
This tree has no leaves.
For plural nouns, the determiner is optional.
For example :
We can say….
The trees have no leaves.
(Or)
Trees have no leaves.
For uncountable nouns also, the determiner is optional.
For example :
We can say….
The water is cold today.
(Or)
Water quenches our thirst.
There are about 50 different determiners in the English language. They include.
Articles : a, an, the
Demonstratives : this, that, these, those
Possessives : my, your, our, their, his, hers, whose, my friend’s, our friends’
Interrogatives : which, whose (but not ‘where’, “when’ and ‘what’ unless they are followed by a noun)
Quantifiers : few, a few, many, much, each, every, some, any, little, a little, somebody, anybody, something, anything, somewhere, anywhere, no one, nobody, nothing, nowhere
Numbers : one, two, three, twenty, forty
Ordinals : first, second, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, last, next
Distributives : all, both, half, either, neither, each, every
1. Few the fish have fins.
2. All of the fish have spots.
3. Some of the fish have legs.
4. Some of the fish have stripes.
5. All the fish have eyes.
6. All the fish have gills.
7. Two of the fish have hands.
8. Three of the fish have spines.
9. All the fish have mouths.
Given below is a song. Read and fill in the articles that are missing.
I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
I can see clearly now the rain has gone,
I can see all the obstacles in way.
Gone are dark the clouds that had me blind,
It’s going to be a bright sunshiny day.
I think I can wake now the pain has gone,
All of the bad feelings have disappeared.
Here is the rainbow I’ve been praying,
It’s gonna be a bright sunshiny day.
Look around there’s nothing but the blue skies,
Look straight ahead there’s nothing but the blue skies.
(Hothouse Flowers)
1. Is that a frog or a toad?
2. Are you coming for a walk with me?
3. Music is a great source of enjoyment.
4. There wasn’t a soul to be seen in park.
5. He decided to enter the priesthood.
6. This is the latest news from Olympic stadium.
7. In rage, I tore the letter to pieces.
8. Firework display was a high point of evening.
9. There’s place on wall where the paint is coming off.
10. As car drew nearer, I realised the man was stranger.
11. Did you hear any noise?
12. Did you see anything?
13. I saw something moving among bushes.
14. It wasn’t anything that I could recognise.
15. I can see someone out there. What is it?
16. Do you think someone coming closer?
17. Yes. It is walking towards a house. Are you expecting anyone?
18. Someone is knocking at door. Who can it be?
19. Can you hear that?
20. Go on, open the door. You have to do it. After all, this is your house.
21. Here, you take that bat, while I will take the hockey stick.
22. We can defend ourselves with these.
23. Now we are ready, who can do any harm to us?
24. Oh, it’s my mom and dad! Sorry, dad, we were just practising for the match.
Determiners
The Sentences Index
