TKT: KAL Part 3 Grammar: determiners and pronouns – trainer’s

notes

Description
Participants learn the different types of determiners and pronouns, and create a list of
examples of these. They also work with authentic texts and their own sentences on
recognising different categories of determiners and pronouns.

Time required: 50 minutes

Materials ƒ Participant’s Worksheet 1 (one copy for each participant)
required:
ƒ Participant’s Worksheet 2 (one copy for each participant)
Aims: ƒ to introduce the different types of determiners and pronouns in
English
ƒ to practise recognising different types of determiners and pronouns
in texts
ƒ to raise awareness of difficulties students may have with
determiners and pronouns
Note: The sample task supplied here also covers nouns and adjectives, and is included in
the activity TKT: KAL Part 3: Nouns and adjectives as well as here.
Procedure
1. Participants work in small groups of 3 or 4. Write 2 columns on the board, with the
titles ‘determiners’ and ‘pronouns’. Allow 2 minutes for each group to brainstorm
different types of determiners and pronouns. If you have a large group, you could
allocate either determiners or pronouns to different small groups. Refer to the Key
below for examples if participants are unsure.
2. After 2 minutes, ask for 2 volunteers to write on the board. The other participants call
out their types of determiners or pronouns for the volunteers to write up. When they
have finished, ask participants to consider the two lists and discuss in their groups
any they are not sure about. Discuss these with the whole group, checking answers
against the key and ensuring all the types in the key are included (see Key below).
3. Give out Participant’s Worksheet 1. Individually, participants look at Exercise 1
and decide which sentence defines determiners and which defines pronouns. Check
in pairs before checking with the whole group (a=pronoun; b=determiner).
4. Refer participants to Participant’s Worksheet 1 Exercise 2. Working individually,
participants look at the words in bold in the text and decide which type of pronoun or
determiner each one is. When they have finished, they should check their answers
with a partner. Go through any where there is disagreement with the whole class
(see Key below).
5. Divide the group into 12 pairs or small groups. If this is not possible, have 6 or 4
pairs/small groups. Allocate each group one of the types of determiners or pronouns
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 (allocate articles and cardinal and ordinal numbers together, as these are
straightforward). If you have 6 or 4 groups, allocate 2 or 3 types to each small group.
6. Give out Participant’s Worksheet 2. Allow the groups 2-3 minutes (longer if they are
working on more than one type of determiner/pronoun) to brainstorm examples of the
type of determiner/pronoun they have been allocated. They should complete the
relevant box in the table. If they have difficulties with any of the categories, refer them
back to the examples from the text, or give them an example yourself (see Key
below).
7. Once the allocated time is up, feed back each small group’s words to the whole
group, checking as you do so (see Key below). Point out how some words can be
used with different grammatical functions.
8. Discuss the following questions with participants:
• Do any of these cause particular problems for learners? (All of these can
cause problems for learners depending on their level and first language)
• Why might that be? (Generally speaking, with pronouns they may not
understand what they refer to. With determiners they may have accuracy
problems related to the grammar of the noun the determiners precede e.g. do
we say a sugar or an sugar?)
9. Put participants into three or four teams. Each team writes six sentences, each
containing one pronoun or determiner only. The teams take it in turns to read out
their sentences. The other teams must say what kind of pronoun/ determiner the
sentence contains. The team giving the right answer first gets a point.
10. Write the following sentence on the board:
That that that that speaker used was unnecessary
Participants work out the meaning and the grammatical functions of the ‘that’s in the
sentence (See Key below).

Additional information
TKT: KAL may contain tasks asking candidates to match pronouns or determiners (in texts,
sentences or sets) to their types. There could also be tasks which ask candidates to identify
the line in a text in which a particular type of pronoun or determiner occurs. Other task types
with a similar focus are also possible.

Suggested follow-up activities/questions

1. This activity could follow the activity TKT: KAL Part 3: Word classes and could be
followed by the activity TKT: KAL Part 3: Nouns and adjectives.

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TKT: KAL Part 3 Grammar: determiners and pronouns – answer
keys

Key to Procedure steps

Step 1:

Types of determiners Types of pronouns

• articles • personal
• cardinal and ordinal • possessive
numbers • relative
• possessive adjectives • interrogative
• demonstrative adjectives • indefinite
• quantifiers • demonstrative
• reflexive
• reciprocal
• quantifiers

Step 10:
1) That 2) that 3) that 4) that speaker used was unnecessary.
1) demonstrative adjective
2) a demonstrative adjective or a demonstrative pronoun (we have no context to let us
decide)
3) relative pronoun
4) demonstrative adjective

Key to Participant’s Worksheet 1

Exercise 2

1 a article
2 the article
3 five cardinal number
4 who relative pronoun
5 one cardinal number
6 it personal pronoun
7 him personal pronoun
8 he personal pronoun
9 some quantifier
10 your possessive adjective
11 this demonstrative adjective
12 someone indefinite pronoun
13 they personal pronoun

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Key to Participant’s Worksheet 2

Type of
Examples
determiner/pronoun

Articles The A An

One First
Cardinal and ordinal Two Second
numbers Three Third
etc etc
My His Our
Possessive adjectives
Your Her Their

This These
Demonstrative adjectives
That Those
The whole
All
Some Lots of
Both
Several A lot (of)
Each
Any A few (of)
Quantifiers Every
Most A little (of)
No
Much Fewer (of)
Neither
More (of)
None (of)
Less (of)
I
You Me
He Him Us
Personal pronouns
She Her Them
We It
They
Mine His Ours
Possessive pronouns
Yours Hers Theirs
Who
Where
Relative pronouns Which
When
That
Which Where How
Interrogative pronouns
Who When Why
Something Anything Nothing
Indefinite pronouns Somebody Anybody Nobody
Someone Anyone No-one
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 This Those
Demonstrative pronouns
That These
Ourselves
Myself Himself
Reflexive pronouns Yourselves
Yourself Herself
Themselves

Reciprocal pronouns Each other One another

N.B. Depending on its position and function in a sentence, a quantifier may be a determiner
or a pronoun, e.g. Would you like some water? Yes, I’d love some.

Key to Sample Task

1B 2A 3B 4C 5B 6C 7B

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TKT: KAL Part 3 Grammar: determiners and pronouns –
Participant’s Worksheet 1

Exercise 1
Which definition is of a determiner, and which of a pronoun?
a. An item used to substitute for the references to entities which lexical noun phrases
indicate.
b. An item which indicates the kind of reference a noun phrase has.
(from Carter and McCarthy, 2006,Cambridge Grammar of English, CUP)

Exercise 2
Look at the pronouns and determiners in bold in this text. Decide on the type of determiner
or pronoun of each word.
N.B. There are other pronouns and determiners in the text which are not in bold.

Paris art theft: Experts puzzle over motives of 'unusual heist'

It could have been 1) a loner with a grudge; it could have been an organised gang. But
2) the experts agree: it's extremely unlikely that 3) five priceless paintings were taken
from the Paris Museum of Modern Art on the orders of a connoisseur‐criminal building
up an exquisite private collection.

The popular image of the gentleman thief 4) who prizes aesthetics above financial gain is
largely a myth, says Charles Hill, a former detective with Scotland Yard's art and
antiquities unit, who now runs a private agency specialising in tracking down lost
artworks. He can recall just 5) one such case: Adam Worth, a notorious Victorian master
criminal – reportedly the model for Sherlock Holmes's nemesis, Professor Moriarty – who
in 1876 stole a Gainsborough portrait of the Duchess of Devonshire and carried 6) it
around with 7) him in a suitcase so 8) he could "worship its grace and tender beauty".

The Paris theft was "very unusual", Hill said, as CCTV footage had spotted a single masked
thief inside the museum. There were a number of possible motives for such crimes, he
said.

"For 9) some people it's just trophy hunting, like going to Africa and shooting a
rhinoceros, or having a glamorous blonde on 10) your arm. It's the adrenaline rush, just
being able to get away with it," he said.

"But in 11) this case my feeling is it's probably a loner, 12) someone with a grudge, even
if it's a grudge against the world. 13) They could even be a former employee."

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 May 2010

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TKT: KAL Part 3 Grammar: determiners and pronouns –
Participant’s Worksheet 2
Add examples of the type/s of determiner and pronoun you have been allocated.

Type of
Examples
determiner/pronoun

Articles

Cardinal and ordinal

numbers

Possessive adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives

Quantifiers

Personal pronouns

Possessive adjectives

Relative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

Reflexive pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns

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TKT: KAL Part 3 Grammar: determiners and pronouns – Sample
Task

A teacher is studying a text on aspects of noun phrases in preparation for working on this
area in class.
For questions 1-7, read the article about a school in India. Read the questions and choose
the line A, B or C which answers the questions.

A short walk from the park rises a massive grey Gothic tower Line 1
on which is painted a coat of arms and the slogan Line 2
‘LUCET ET ARDET’. This is the St Alfonso’s Line 3
Boys’ High School and Junior College, established 1958, Line 4
one of the oldest educational establishments in the state Line 5
of Kanataka. The Jesuit-run school is Kittur’s most famous, Line 6
and many of its alumni have gone on to the Indian Line 7
Institute of Technology, the Karnataka State Regional Line 8
Engineering College, and other prestigious universities Line 9
in India and abroad. Line 10

1. Which line contains a demonstrative pronoun?

A.2 B. 3 C. 6
2. Which line contains a relative pronoun?
A. 2 B. 5 C. 9
3. Which line contains a superlative adjective?
A1 B. 6 C. 9
4. 4. Which line contains a quantifier?
A. 1 B. 5 C. 7
5. Which line contains a noun with two typical noun endings?
A.2 B. 5 C. 7
6. Which line contains a possessive adjective?
A. 3 B. 4 C.7
7. Which line contains a proper noun?
A.1 B.3 C. 5

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Acknowledgements
Cambridge ESOL is grateful to the following for copyright permission:
Guardian.co.uk
Paris art theft: Experts puzzle over motives of 'unusual heist', Thursday 20 May 2010

Every effort has been made to identify the copyright owners for material used, but it is not always
possible to identify the source or contact the copyright holders. In such cases, Cambridge ESOL
would welcome information from the copyright owners.

© UCLES 2009. This material may be photocopied (without alteration) and distributed for classroom use provided no charge is made. For further
information see our Terms of Use at http://www.teachers.cambridgeESOL.org/ts/legalinfo

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