Chapter-8

Determiners
As a determiner my role is to be used before nouns tofix or define
their meanings in some way or the other.

ADJECTIVE

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DETERMINERS

Adeterminer may include:
1. Articles such as: a,an, the
2. Demonstrative adjectives such as: this, that, these, those
3. Possessive adjectives suchas: my, your, our,his, their
4. Interrogative adjectives such as: what, which, whose
5. Distributive adjectives such as: each, every,either, neither
6. Quantifiers or adjectives of quantity such as: (little,some, many,few,any, several
is
1, Articles. 'A', 'an' and 'the' are articles and they are used imnediately before the noun. 'A or»An'
whereas the' is
used before a noun to indicate it is one in number and is general(and not special)
used before a noun to make it particular or special.
Exarnples: 1. Rohitis a good friend of mnine.
2. Eating anapple a day is good for health.
3. We are invited to theparty.
before a noun to
2. Demonstrative Adiectives, Words like this', 'these', 'thate, those are used
noun.
determine its position (near or far). They are used immediately before a
Examples: 1. Thisschool is famous for its discipline.
2. Thesesweets are fresh.
3. Thatbuilding at the end of the lane is my house.
4. Thoseboys are my neighbours.
O. Possessive Adjectives, Adiectives such as 'mny, 'his, 'your, 'our', 'their, etc. are used to indicate
nounin a sentence.
PosSession or belonging of the noun and are used before a
Examples: 1. Myuncle's house is quite far from here.
2. Ourdanceschool is closedon weekdays.
3. Theirparty was very nice.
4. Hisbike is very expensive.
5. Yourstudies keep you busy.
Determiners 45
 POSITIVE emeanins
Sentence, t similarplural like noun;
Imeanings. plural meaning
meaning)
(positive
library. In like
much'.
noun several idea would
a plural a
ora ais is
suggests ('novels' (negative noun;
gives
negative1
in
noun a 'notone
before ina
,many expected',
('students
NEGATIVE a or few'.
whatextent is NEGATIVE or as
before
a Interrogative
used little'.'few'.'some' ,'any', It
(players very any'much/many
meaning. library. read.
used are
as time.
though 'hardly
'neither' much/many coach. meanings:
to
question'to rather Uncle
are
'which' handwriting. in POSITVEgivethem, home home
difficult.
assignmentsthe may our
of as an
is
uncountable
'either', SOMEgives
ADJECTIVES
CONFUSING ourRohit
negative
sense
´not
oranswerthe by of
like´all suggests
'whose', accident. usually
as praisedItnouns. in in for the
'every', really 'not givesmany). had had
rules.
my library gives
teacher. as or their ideawe as we
'what', such were improve It like', It not were (countable) well It any).
'each', Adiectives
trafficroad nouns. submit
nouns. that thathome It meaning.
suggests (milk'
guantityexam the (though
well as novels noun.(hardly
the friends. would
as out?
called noun'. theto (countable) (countable) novelspositive
whomeaning) performned
most? as by
noun. howin our uncountable fridge.
such in? such punished discount.
required. the by injured least' plural It thein NEGATIVE
go the themy
Quantity. in abide one
students meaning)
positive
gives context.
few expected'
thethe
words
we Adjectives
indicate
of asked on bothall left THELITTLE in
the
to me
been
has
name of day. support advice were as
much/manynegativeat
or»some beforethe readnovel
Wh-related
suits
should one
was be
its
offers strictly
questions plural plural who
the read gives Gramma
little
milk
'eachhasmay of to people
mesone Uncle
no an as
colourshop student
few players usedon sentence gives
beforemuch/many
Adjectives.
askquestions Adjectives. men
dog
Adjectives
shop noun
little people FEW before givesbefore nothing' depending Uncle is
indicate Several are also There
Rohit isi
There
usuallyExample:
Neitlter Many LITTLE,
|VlhatWhiclh Eacli
2.WIhose Every
Either Ineed
abefore
FewGive THE usedas There
used few
noun; noun)
Rohit This used English
´not is () (i)
to or O.Quantiiiers FEW, is than A It
meaning is itsentence,
1. 2. 3. 4.
3. Distributive
Examples:
1. sentence 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
used is suggests Example:
It Example: few: Example: as
to Examples: Examples: It few:"better A It
Little:or'not Easy
LITTLE,
sentence
are A Few: idea. The
FEW, A
a etc.
in " " " e
A. 46
4. 5. B.
 little:Itis;11sed before an uncountable noun, It gives than least'. sentence, it
In a(though
A
givesPOSITIVE meaning. It suggests idea like'better the sense
nothing or'atatleast
of'some some' not
much).
Example: There is alittle work still left to be completed. (work' is an uncountable noun; gives
positive meaning)
Thelittle: Itis used before an uncountable noun. It gives the sense of'some', However, in a
sentence, it may give NEGATIVE or POSITIVE meaning depending on the context. It suggests
idealike'the whole quantity' (though very little).
Example: Saurabh spentthe little money he had. ('money' is an uncountable noun)
This sentence gives both positive as well as negative
(1) Saurabh spent all themoney he had. meanings:
(i) There is no money left with (positive meaning)
Saurabh now. (negative meaning)
FEWER
CLESS&
Fewer: It is used before plural (countable) nouns with reference to number and is a comparative
degreeoffew.
Example: There arefewer workers than required to complete the task. ('workers is aplural form of
acountable noun and signifies number)
.Ies: is used before uncountable nouns with reference to quantity and is acomparative degree of
It
little
Fxample: My friend earns lesS money than a postman. (money' is an uncountable noun and
signifies quantity)
Mote
Fewer' and 'less' (lesser) are followed by'than' as they are thecomparative forms.
D.SOME &ANY
Some: It can be used before countable and uncountable nouns with reference to number or
quantity. In asentence, it gives POSITIVE meaning.
Eamples: 1. Some students are still in the playground. ('students' is aplural form of acountable
noun; gives positive meaning)
2. Grandfather had some milk in his breakfast. (milk' is an uncountable noun; gives
positive meaning.)
Any: Itcanbe used before countable and uncountable nouns with reference to number or quantity.
Ihasentence, it gives NEGATIVE meaning.
Bamples: 1. There wasn't any student in the playground. ('student' is acountable noun; gives
negative mearing)
2. Grandfather didn't have any milk in his breakfast. (milk' is an uncountable noun:
gives negative meaning)
EAUCH& ItMANY
Much: sis used before uncountable nouns with reference to quantity
Example: There is1nuch Isugar in the tea. ('sugar is an uncountableenoun)
Many:!ItisusedIbefore plural (countable) nouns with reference to number.
Example: Many students were absent on Tuesday due to heavy rain. ('students' is apluralforora
countablenoun)
Determiners 47