Determiner

Definition

Determiner can be defined as “A modifying word that determines the kind of reference a noun or noun group has, for example a, the, every.”

Explanation

Determiner is an important parts of speech and called as the noun modifier. It provides further information about the noun in the sentence by the use of articles, quantifiers, demonstratives, Interrogatives and possessives. Various types of determiners are used to indicate quantity, definiteness, proximity, questions and relationship that a particular noun has. Determiners are modifying words and generally placed before the noun or noun phrase to express the feeling of speaker about the specific thing or person.

Variety of determiners have different meanings and serve different purposes in the sentence. We use determiners to clarify a noun or a noun phrase. It determines that whether noun (which is used in the sentence) is specific or unspecific. Determiners with their different meanings play important role in the sentence.

How to differentiate Determiners from Adjectives

It is quite difficult to differentiate between determiners and adjectives because some functions of both are same. Both are used to modify a noun or noun phrase. However, both can be differentiated from each other by their other functions such as; determiners are used before nouns to give information to the readers about noun whereas adjectives are used to modify nouns to get further details about noun as well as complement the object or subject in the sentence. Determiners cannot be graded like adjectives.

Types of Determiner

There are different types of determiners which we use while making sentence. We have described all the types of determiners with proper example:

1) Articles

It is a most common type of determiner which is used to express definiteness and specificity of a noun in the sentence. Some of the articles used in English are ‘the’ (called as definite article used to indicate specific nouns), ‘a’ and ‘an’ (called as indefinite articles and used to indicate unspecific nouns).

For example:

• The lion is roaring very angrily.
• My friend want to become an ideal student.

2) Demonstratives

Demonstrative determiners are used as pointers of a particular noun in order to indicate the position or location of a noun in the sentence. Some of the demonstrative determiners are like here, there, this, that, these, those, etc.

For example:

• This is a cat.
• That is a doll.

3) Quantifiers

Quantifiers are used in the sentence in order to express the quantity such as many, few, enough, little, much, most, any, some, any, etc.

For example:

• He bought many chocolates.
• Only few children want to go on the tour.

4) Interrogatives

Interrogative determiners are used to ask questions such as what, which, whose etc.

For example:

What you want to do?

Which school should I join?

Whose clothe you have wore?

5) Possessives

Possessives determiners are different from possessive pronouns (can be independent or can stand alone) and used in the sentence to express ownership of a noun. Some of the possessive determiners are like his, her, my, mine, our, their, your, etc.

For example:

• This is mine.
• My mom is very simple and kind.
• I am going to receive your mother.

6) Distributive Determiners

Distributive Determiners are words that give information about the noun in a clause or sentence. They may refer to a group or every individual in the group. Some of the examples/words/list of distributive determiners are- each, every, all, either and neither, etc.

For example:

• ‘Each’ and ‘Every’ talk about the individual members of a group.
• ‘All’ collectively talks about the whole group.

Worksheet/Activities/Exercises With MCQs and Answers

• I have ________ dog.
  1. an
  2. a
  3. the
• There is ________ apple in my fridge.
  1. an
  2. a
  3. the
• He lives near the campus of ________ University.
  1. the
  2. an
  3. a
• ______ umbrella is a must in rains.
  1. the
  2. a
  3. an
• He broke ________ vase that I gifted him.
  1. an
  2. the
  3. a
• ________ man we spoke to is our new science teacher.
  1. The
  2. an
  3. a
• ________ is the money you needed.
  1. here
  2. these
  3. those
• ________ are my socks over there.
  1. these
  2. they
  3. those
• _______ car belong to my uncle.
  1. that
  2. those
  3. here
• _______ is one beautiful house.
  1. these
  2. this
  3. those
• The car parked over _________ is my uncle’s.
  1. this
  2. these
  3. their
• Too _______ of sugar is not good for health.
  1. much
  2. many
  3. enough
• How ________ people came to the concert?
  1. much
  2. several
  3. many
• Would you like to have _______ tea?
  1. many
  2. a little
  3. some
• There is __________ salt in my kitchen.
  1. a lot of
  2. several
  3. many
• He has _________ mangoes in his yard.
  1. much
  2. a bit of
  3. several
• _______ was the subject of the lecture.
  1. which
  2. what
  3. whose
• There are several books here. ________ one belongs to you?
  1. what
  2. which
  3. whose
• ________ baby were you playing with yesterday.
  1. which
  2. what
  3. whose
• _______ grandfather was a freedom fighter.
  1. mine
  2. me
  3. my
• _______ house is bigger than ________.
  1. my, our
  2. his, mine
  3. his, me
• Roma is very attached to _______ mother.
  1. her
  2. mine
  3. she
• The teacher is responsible for ________ behavior.
  1. them
  2. there
  3. their
• _________ environment is ________ responsibility.
  1. the, our
  2. the, their
  3. an, her
• _______ grand children are going to college.
  1. he
  2. her
  3. me

Answers–  1)b, 2)a, 3)c, 4)c, 5)b, 6)a, 7)a, 8)c, 9)a, 10)a, 11)c, 12)a, 13)c, 14)c, 15)a, 16)c, 17)b, 18)b, 19)c, 20)c, 21)b, 22)a, 23)c, 24)a, 25)b