Determiners

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DETERMINERS

Determiners are words placed in front of a noun to make it clear what the noun refers to.

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

Use ‘a’ when the next word starts with a consonant, or before words starting in ‘u’ and ‘eu’ when they sound like ‘you’. Use ‘an’ when the next word starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) or with a mute ‘h’.

Examples:

An apple

A ball

A cat

An elephant

A European

A unit

An hour

 

THE DEFINITE ARTICLE

Nouns in English are preceded by the definite article when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he/she is referring to

 

Use ‘the’ to refer to something which has already been mentioned:

-          I saw a fruit seller near my school. The fruit seller was very old and weak.

 

Use ‘the’ when you assume there is just one of something in that place, even if it has not been mentioned before:

-          Go to the library.

Use ‘the’ in sentences or clauses where you define or identify a particular person or object:

-          I know the lady who is the owner of this house.

 

Use ‘the’ to refer to people or objects that are unique:

-          The prime minister addresses the country on every Sunday.

 

Use ‘the’ before superlatives and ordinal numbers:

-          This is the tallest building in our city.

-          This is the third time I have met him.

 

Use ‘the’ with adjectives, to refer to a whole group of people.

-          The French enjoy cheese.

-          The old woman has donated a lot of money to the poor.

 

Use ‘the’ with names of geographical areas, rivers, mountain ranges, groups of islands, canals, and oceans.

-          The Himalayas is the highest mountain range in the world.

-          Our ship crossed the Indian Ocean in 20 hours.

-          The Ganges is a trans-boundary river of Asia which flows through the nations of India and Bangladesh.

 

Use ‘the’ with countries that have plural names

-          I am travelling to the Netherlands next summer.

 

Use ‘the’ with countries that include the words ‘republic’, ‘kingdom’, or ‘states’ in their names.

-          My aunt lives in the United States.

 

Use ’the’ with newspaper names.

-          I read it in the Daily News.

 

Use ‘the’ with the names of famous buildings, works of art, museums, or monuments.

-          I visited the Taj Mahal last year.

 

Note: Use ‘the’ with the names of families, but not with the names of individuals.

 

Omission of ‘The’:

Do not use ‘the’ with names of countries (except for the special cases mentioned above) and names of languages:

-          India is a multicultural country.

-          Ms. Martha can speak French and Italian.

 

Do not use ‘the’ with people's names:

-          My friend Shubha is an outstanding guitar player.

-          Do not use ‘the’ with titles when combined with names.

 

Do not use ‘the’ after ('s) possessive case:

-          His brother's car was stolen.

 

Do not use ‘the’ with uncountable nouns:

-          Rice is an important food in South India.

-          Milk is the best source of Calcium.

 

 Do not use ‘the’ with the names of individual mountains, lakes and islands:

-          Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth.

-          Her hotel is near Lake Pushkar.

 

Do not use ‘the’ with most names of towns, streets, stations and airports:

 

-          Victoria Station is in the centre of London.

-          Can you direct me to Dalal Street?


Using ‘Much’ and ‘Many’:

Much and many are mainly used in interrogative and negative sentences. They are also used in affirmative and negative sentences in combination with ‘too’ and ‘so’.

Uncountable nouns (use much):                                                                

-          How much sugar do you have?                            

-          There's not much sugar at the store.                   

-          I have too much sugar at home.                         

-          I don't know what to do with so much sugar.    

-          I wish there was not so much sugar here.     

           

Countable nouns (use many):

-          How many people attended the seminar?

-          Not many people attended the seminar.

-          There were too many people in the seminar.

-          It's a problem when there are so many people.

-          There were not so many people last year.

 

 

Using ‘Some’ and ‘Any’:

Some and any can be used with countable and uncountable nouns to describe an undefined or incomplete quantity.

Some can be used in descriptive sentences:

-          I had some rice for lunch.

-          He got some books from the library.

-          I will have some news next week.

 

Some is also used in interrogative sentences when you think you already know the answer:

-          Did he give you some tea? = I think he did.

-          Will you have some rice? = Probably you will

 

Some can also be used in interrogative sentences to ask for something or to offer something:

-          Could I have some books, please?

-          Would you like some tea?

-          Will you have some cookies?

 

Any is used in interrogative sentences when you do not know the answer:

-          Does she have any friends in school?

-          Do you want any groceries from the shop?

 

Any is also used with ‘not’ to form negative sentences. In these sentences, the word any emphasizes the negativity to make it more absolute:

-          She doesn't want any new dresses for Deepawali.

-          I don't want any tea.

-          There isn't any reason to complain.

 

 

Graded quantifiers:

 

Quantifier                                                     Comparative Grade      Superlative Grade

(With plural countable nouns)

many                                                                         more                                       most

few                                                                           fewer                                      fewest

 

(With uncountable nouns)

much                                                                         more                                     most

little                                                                           less                                        least

 

Examples:

-          There are many people in the USA, more people in India, but the most people live in China.

-          Much time and money is spent on education, more on health services but the most is spent on national defense.

-          Few rivers in India are not polluted.

-          Fewer people die young now than in the 17th century.

-          Scientists have little hope of finding a complete cure for cancer before the year 2020.

-          She had less time to study than Suzanne but had better results.

-          Give that dog the least opportunity and it will bite you.

 

EXPRESSING OPINIONS ABOUT QUANTITY

POSITIVE ATTITUDE:

A few (for countable nouns) and a little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a positive way, implying that although the speaker may not have much, he has enough.

Examples:

-          I have got a few friends. = I have enough friends.

-          She has got a little money. = She has enough money.

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NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

Few (for countable nouns) and little (for uncountable nouns) describe the quantity in a negative way. They may actually indicate a total lack of the noun, but are more polite than saying so directly.

Examples:

-          Few people visited him in hospital. = he had almost no visitors, or perhaps no visitors at all.

-          I have little time to watch TV = almost no time, or perhaps no time at all

 

Using ‘Each’ and ‘Every’

Each is used when you see the persons in a group as individuals.

Every is used when you see the persons in a group as a unit.

 

Examples:

-          At the beginning of the game, each player has three cards.

-          The Principal wants to speak to every teacher in the school.

 

Using ‘Either’:

Either is positive and when used alone, refers to one of the two members of the pair. It is equivalent to "one or the other".

Examples:

-          I can stay at either hotel.

-          There are two chairs here. You can take either of them.

-          Either of you can come.

 

Using ‘Neither’:

Neither is negative and when used alone, refers to the whole pair. It is equivalent to "not one or the other".

Examples:

-          Neither chair is any good.

-          Which bag do you want? Neither of them.

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