DETERMINERS FUNCTION AND CLASSES OF DETERMINERS Function A determiner qualifies a noun.

It makes the reference of the noun more precise. 2.Classes of Determiners There are seven classes of determiners The Definite and Indefinite articles: the, an, a The Demonstratives: this, that, these, those The Possessives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their The Quantifiers: a few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, any, enough, some etc. The numbers The exclamatives: such and what The distributives: either, or, neither, nor, each, every DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES THE, A, AN The articles do not have gender in English (there are no masculine or feminine articles) 1 Definite article : THE Examples: The man.

The woman. The boy. The boys. (n.b. plural) The definite article is not usually used : GENERAL RULES: the definite article is not generally used: a.In front of proper nouns: Mount Everest b.In front of the names of languages Arabic c.In front of meal names Breakfast.. d.In front of titles indicating the name or position of someone. King William.. e.After the 's of the possessive. Peter's car.. f.With nouns that are uncountable Rice is the main food in Asia. More examples: In front of proper nouns a.Germany is an important economic power. b.Mount McKinley is the highest mountain in Alaska. c.Victoria Station is in the centre of London. In front of the names of languages a.French is spoken in Tahiti.

b.English uses many words of Latin origin. c.Indonesian is a relatively new language. In front of the names of meals a.Lunch is at midday. b.Dinner is in the evening. c.Breakfast is the first meal of the day. In front of people's titles or professions a.Prince Charles is Queen Elizabeth's son. b.President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. c.Dr.Watson was Sherlock Holmes' friend. After the 's possessive case a.His brother's car. b.Peter's house. c.My mother's friend. With uncountable nouns a.Rice is the main food in Asia. b.Milk is often added to tea in England. c.War is destructive. The indefinite articles : a, an a goes before a consonnant an before a vowel. A boy. An apple. A car. An orange. A house. An opera.

Note: An before an h mute: - an hour, an honour. A before u and eu when they are pronounced 'you': a european, a university, a unit. The indefinite article is used before professions, nationalities and religions John is a doctor. He is an Englishman.(He is English) He is a Protestant. THE DEMONSTRATIVES : THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE, THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE They indicate distance between the speaker and the object (physical or psychological) . .Function and Position a. Position : i. In front of the noun ii.Alone when the noun is 'understood'. Examples: I like this car. I do not like that car. How much are these? What are those? b. Function : i. This, that are singular. ii.These, those are plural.

Examples: Singular: She knows this man. He knows that woman. Plural: She knows these men. He knows those women. They indicate the distance of the object from the speaker. It can be a physical distance as in : Who owns that house? (distant) Is this John's house? (near) Or it can be a psychological distance as in : I do not like that man. (distant) This is a nice surprise! (near) THE QUANTIFIERS Quantifiers: They are used for quantities (amounts) that are approximative and inexact. I have a little money. I have many friends. . MUCH and MANY, (A) LITTLE, (A) FEW, A LOT With nouns that we can count. a few, few, many Used with nouns that we can not count. a little, little, much

With both countable and uncountable nouns: A lot of Generally, much et many are used with the negative and interrogative forms. With the affirmative form we use a lot of. Examples: With countable nouns: many, few, a few, a lot of a. Are there many people in Australia? b. No, there are few people in Australia. c. Would you like a few postcards? d. He hasn't many opportunities. e. Judy has a lot of friends. With uncountable nouns: much, little, a little, a lot of. a. How much is that dress? (note: we can omit the noun 'money') b. I have a little money in the bank. c. She doesn't have much time with her children. d. There is a lot of information about Italy in this travel brochure. e. How much do you know about China? SOME and ANY SOME and ANY are used with both countable and uncountable nouns. They indicate a part or quantity of a substance or object. SOME is usually used in an affirmative sentence. SOME can also be used in interrogative or hypothetical sentences. Would you like some more tea? Will you have some cake? ANY is generally used in negative or interrogative sentences.

Examples: SOME with affirmative sentences. a. I will have some news next week. b. She has some valuable books in her house. c. Philip wants some help with his exams. d. There is some butter in the fridge. e. We need some cheese if we want to make a fondue. SOME with interrogative hypothetic sentences. a. Would you like some help? b. Will you have some more roast beef? ANY with negative sentences a. She doesn't want any kitchen appliances for Christmas. b. They don't want any help moving to their new house. c. No, thank you. I don't want any more cake. d. There isn't any reason to complain. ANY with interrogative sentences a. Do you have any friends in London? b. Have they any children? c. Do you want any groceries from the shop? d. Are there any problems with your work? Compound nouns made with SOME , ANY and NO Words formed with SOME or ANY follow the same rules as SOME and ANY used alone. Words formed with NO (nothing, nobody, nowhere) are used in affirmative sentences to give a negative sense to the sentence. Compare: I don't know anybody. = I know nobody. She doesn't want anything. = She wants nothing.

GRADED QUANTIFIERS They function like comparatives and hold a relative position on a scale of increase or decrease. INCREASE From O% to 100% With plural countable nouns: many, more, most With uncountable nouns: much ,more, most DECREASE From 100% to 0% With plural countable nouns: few, fewer, fewest With uncountable nouns: little, less, least Examples: a. There are many people in England, more in India, but the most people live in China. b. Much time and money is spent on education, more on health services but the most is spent on national defence. c. Few rivers in Europe are not polluted. d. Fewer people die young now than in the seventeenth century. e. The country with the fewest people per square kilometre must be Australia. f.Scientists have little hope of finding a complete cure for cancer before the year 2,000. g. She had less time to study than Paul but had better results. h. Give that dog the least opportunity and it will bite you.

a few and a little have a different meaning than few and little: a few, a little = positive meaning I have a few friends.= I have SOME friends. I have a little money. = I have SOME money. few, little = negative meaning I have few friends.= I do not have MANY friends. I have little money.= I do not have MUCH money. QUANTIFIERS: MUCH-MANY & LITTLE-FEW We use "much" and "little" with uncount nouns to talk about a quantity of something. We use "many" and "few" with plural nouns to talk about a number of people or things. We use "much" in negative sentences and questions, and "a lot of" or "plenty of" rather than "much" in affirmative sentences. We use "more" and "less" with uncount nouns, and "more" and "fewer" with plural count nouns. 1. We use "much" to talk about a large quantity of something, and "little" to talk about a small quantity of something. We only use "much" and "little" with uncount nouns. I haven't got much time. We've made little progress.

2. We use "many" to talk about a large number of people or things, and "few" to talk about a small number of people or things. We can only use "many" and "few" with plural count nouns. He wrote many novels. There were few visitors to our house. 3. We normally use "much" in negative sentences and questions. He did not speak much English. Why haven't I given much attention to this problem? In affirmative sentences we do not use "much", we use "a lot of", "lots of", or "plenty of" instead. We can use them with both uncount nouns and plural nouns. He demanded a lot of attention. I make a lot of mistakes. They spent lots of time on the project. He remembered a large room with lots of windows. I've got plenty of money. There are always plenty of jobs to be done. Note that we can use "so much" and "too much" in affirmative sentences. She spends so much time here. There is too much chance of error. 4. We use "so much" to emphasize that a large quantity of something is involved.

I have so much work to do. They have so much money and we have so little. We use "too much" and "too many" to say that the quantity of something, or the number of people or things, is larger than is reasonable or necessary. He has too much work. Too many people still smoke. We use "very many" to emphasize that a large number of people or things are involved. Very many old people live alone. Note that "very much" is used with nouns and verbs. There isn't very much time. I liked it very much. 5. We use "few" and "little" to emphasize that only a small quantity of something or a small number of people or things are involved. They can be used with "very" for greater emphasis. The town has few monuments. I have little time for anything but work. Very few cars had reversing lights. I had very little money left. Note that "a few" and "a little" just indicate that a quantity or number is small. He spread a little honey on a slice of bread.

I usually do a few jobs for him in the house. 6. We use "more" with uncount nouns and plural count nouns to refer to a quantity of something or a number of people or things that is greater than another quantity or number. His visit might do more harm than good. He does more hours than I do. We use "less" with uncount nouns to refer to an amount of something that is smaller than another amount. The poor have less access to education. This machinery uses less energy. We use "fewer", in English, with plural nouns to refer to a number of people or things that is smaller than another number. There are fewer trees here. They have sold fewer computers this year.