Determiners

In today’s lesson, we will discuss the important topic of grammar, “determiners”.

Determiners are words used before a noun to indicate the category of things or
people under discussion. The different types of determiners are also discussed in
the article. Practice questions and solved examples are given throughout the
article for better understanding and concept clarity. Let’s begin the journey on
this great topic.

Determiners

• Determiners are words used before a noun to indicate the group of things
or people under discussion.
• These include the words ‘a’, ‘the‘, ‘my’, ‘this’, ‘some’, and ‘many’.
• For example, He is a smart boy. In this sentence, ‘a’ is a determiner. It gives
us the idea that the statement is based on a single boy.

Kinds of Determiners

Determiners can be categorized into nine types:

This can be summarized in a table:
 Type Examples

Pre- All, all of, half, half of, both, double,twice,

determiners rather,such,what,etc.

Articles A, An, The

Demonstratives This, that, those,these

Possessives My, your, our her, mine, their, etc.

Ordinals First,second,last, Next, etc.

Cardinals One, Four, hundred,etc.

Quantifiers Much, many, Some, Little, any, Enough, etc.

Distributives Each, Every, Either, neither

Interrogatives what,who,whose,where,why,etc.

Let's go into more detail about each type.

Pre-determiners
• The words which occur before a determiner to limit the meaning of a noun
are called pre-determiners.
• These include half, all, both, double, twice, quite, and rather.
• He will consume half of the meal.
• All the girls joined the race.
• He drank half of the drink.
• All of them were enlightenment.
 • The seminar was attended by half of the class.

Articles
➢ Articles denote the specificity of a noun.
➢ There are two types, the definite and the indefinite article.
➢ ‘The’ is the definite article whereas ‘a’ and ‘an’ are the indefinite articles.
➢ The definite article is used before any common noun, specific things or
people.

o The parent would like to meet the principal.

o Sonu threw the bat into the garbage
o The students were not in the class.
o The Taj Mahal is a marvellous creation.
o The tourists visited the monument.
➢ The indefinite articles, ‘a’, ‘an’ are used before general and indefinite
things.
➢ The article ‘a’ is used before the words which begin with a consonant or
consonant sound and ‘an’ is used before the words beginning with vowel
or vowel sounds.
o The girl bought an apple from the market.
o Ram is an Indian.
o He had an umbrella to protect himself from the heat.
o Sam is an honest man. • Sheela is a smart lady.

Demonstratives
The words that are used to talk about persons or things that have already been
mentioned are referred to as demonstratives.
These include this, these, that, those.
• Somu bought this stationery.
• These cats are cute.
 • Those puppies are adorable.
• I met my manager this week.

Possessives
These words are used to show the possession of an object by the subject.
These include my, mine, hers, his our, your, his, her, its, and their.
o He is my friend.
o She is my teacher.
o Ram is our boss.
o This is her pet.
o They love their family.

Ordinals
The words that show the positions in a series are called ordinals.
These include, first, second, next, and last.
o I’ll call you next.
o You’ve secured the first position in the competition.
o He sits on the last bench.
o She was the first person who came to my rescue.

Cardinals
Cardinals show the number. These are ordinary numbers like one, two, or three.
o There were only five girls.
o The library has around a thousand books.
o The museum has a fossil that is five thousand years old.
o He has ten collections.
o She lived in this house for twenty years.
Quantifiers
The words that refer to the number of things or amount of something are called
quantifiers.
These include much, some, several, a lot of, both, and all.
o Some people were waiting for you.
o He has enough of his pet.
o She drank a lot of beet juice.
o There was sufficient food for all people.

Distributives each, every, either, neither.

The words that refer to every single member of a group are called distributive
determiners.
These include each, every, neither, either.
o He interacted with each student.
o I agree with every word of my friend.
o Each complaint will be addressed.
o Either of the parents has to attend the meeting.
o Neither of the answers is correct.

Interrogatives
The words used for asking questions are called interrogative determiners.
These include what, which, and whose.
• Whose pen is this?
• Which is your sandal?
• What colour is your purse?
• Which book are you studying?
• Whose bag is this?
Difficult words with Meanings

Word Meaning

Category Group

Possession Own

Begin Start

Distinct Different

Illustration Examples

Clarity Clear

Summary
Determiners are helpful in defining nouns and making sentences as clear and
focused as feasible. Many parts of speech, such as articles, demonstratives,
quantifiers, and possessives, can operate as determiners. They may be able to tell
whether a word (noun) is general or specific, singular or plural. They have the
ability to quantify nouns and provide information about noun ownership. They
can allude to nouns' proximity or distance. Determiners, in a nutshell, show which
reference the noun has been used in.

Practice Questions
1. Do you know ___ bag this is? (whose/their)
2. Can you give me ___ pen? (a/an)
3. Shiksha scored ___in the class. (first/one)
4. Joey is ___ honest man. (a/an)
5. ___ students were called to the auditorium. (any/some)
6. She was ___ ready for the interview nor wanted to take the job.
(neither/either)
7. She had a ___ of pasta during dinner. (many/lot)
8. The shelf was filled with ___ of books. (many/hundreds)
9. The pen is ___ and I gave it to him. (mine/me)
10. I scored the ___ rank in the whole crew. (first/one)

Answer:
1. Do you know whose bag this is? (whose/their)
2. Can you give me a pen? (a/an)
3. Shiksha scored first in the class. (first/one)
4. Joey is an honest man. (a/an)
5. Some students were called to the auditorium. (any/some)
6. She was neither ready for the interview nor wanted to take the job.
(neither/either)
7. She had a lot of pasta during dinner. (many/lot)
8. The shelf was filled with hundreds of books. (many/hundreds)
9. The pen is mine and I gave it to him. (mine/me)
10. I scored the first rank in the whole crew. (first/one)