Determiners
Determiners are words that can define nouns. So, what are the differences between determiners and adjectives?
What Are Determiners?
'Determiners' are words that are used to give little information about the following noun. They tell us whether the noun is general or specific, one or more, etc.
Different Types of Determiners
There are different types of determiners in English:
- pre-determiners
- central determiners
- post-determiners
What Are Pre-determiners?
Pre-determiners come before central determiners or they are used alone to determine the following head noun. There are different pre-determiners in English as follows:
- multipliers
- fractions
- intensifiers
- distributives (both, all)
Multipliers
A number that is used to multiply the amount, number, or quantity of something is called a multiplier. Check out the examples:
She eats
Fraction
Fractions are used to show a smaller part of a whole. Here are the examples.
I will give you
Intensifiers
Intensifiers are used to strengthen a noun or an adjective. Take a look at these examples.
The first day of school was
Distributives
'Distributive determiners' refer to particular individuals in a group. They do not point to them as a single whole. But they may refer to each individual. Only a few distributives can be used as pre-determiners. Here are distributive as pre-determners.
Take a look at some examples:
I gave
Central Determiners
Central determiners are used in the middle position and there can be a pre-determiner before or a post-determiner after it to make a combination that modifies the head noun. Here are the central determiners.
Articles
'Articles' are words that are used to determine a noun. It can indicate whether the noun is definite or indefinite. 'Definite nouns' are particular nouns. Whenever someone uses a definite article before a noun they make it clear which one they are referring to. When indefinite articles are used they refer to a noun that is general and is not a specific noun. Here are the articles:
- A
- An
- The
Take a look at some examples:
I heard
Demonstrative Determiners
'Demonstrative determiners' are terms that are used to demonstrate things and objects. 'Demonstrating' means to point to something. Remember the demonstrative determiners are just used before nouns. Here are the demonstrative determiners:
Take a look at some examples:
Possessive Determiners
'Possessive determiners' indicate the possession of objects. In other words, they are used to say to whom something belongs. As their name requires possessive determiners show who possesses something. Here are the possessive determiners:
Take a look at some examples:
Those are
The cooks set
Interrogative Determiners
'Interrogative Determiners' are used to ask a question. These are Interrogative determiners of the English language:
Take a look at some examples:
Warning
Interrogative determiners are used alone with no post-determiners following them or any pre-determiners preceding them.
Post-determiners
Post-determiners are placed after central determiners. Here are the post-determiners on the list.
Numerals
Numerals can be ordinal, or cardinal numbers. Sequencers are kinds of numbers as well. They are all used as numerals.
- ordinal numbers
- cardinal numbers
- sequencers
Take a look at some examples:
The
The
Quantifiers
Quantifiers are used before head nouns to define an indefinite amount or number. They are used as post-determiners. Here are the most important quantifiers.
Take a look at some examples:
A
Distributive Determiners
'Distributive determiners' refer to particular individuals in a group. They may point to them as a single whole of each individual. Here are some distributive determiners.
Take a look at some examples:
I spent
Tip!
Pre-determiners, post-determiners, and central determiners can be used alone as the only determiner of the head noun. Here are a few examples.
Adjectives vs. Determiners
Actually, 'determiners' and 'adjectives' are different from each other. 'Determiners' are supposed to be used only once before one particular noun, but there is a possibility of using an unlimited set of adjectives before a noun. You can not use 'determiners' after a verb, but 'predictive adjectives' are used after verbs.
determiner + determiner | ✗ | adjective + adjective | ✓ |
determiner + adjective | ✓ | adjective + determiner | ✗ |
determiner + noun | ✓ | adjective + noun | ✓ |
noun + determiner | ✗ | noun + adjective | ✗ |
verb + determiner | ✗ | verb + adjective | ✓ |
can omit determiner | ✗ | can omit adjective | ✓ |
Determiners are not always used before plural nouns and in some cases, we can omit them, but before singular nouns, they are usually needed and not omitted. On the other hand, you can easily omit adjectives before nouns and the sentence still makes sense in this case. Check out the table for more detailed information.
Review
Determiners come before nouns to modify them. Here are different types of determiners.
- articles
- demonstratives
- possessive
- quantifiers
- distributives