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what are determiners?

Determiners are words that come at the beginning of noun phrases, before any adjectives.
They mostly show which or how much/many we are talking about.
the manager my old friend that black dress some oil little interest
There are three main groups of determiners.
l. Articles: a/an and the.
2. Possessives and demonstratives: my, your etc and this, that etc. These are calied 'adjectives
some grammars, but determiners are quite different from adjectives.
3. Quantifierst all, each, every, either, some, any, no, much, many and similar words.
Articles, possessives and demonstratives are covered in this Section, along with the possessive
pronouns mine, yours etc. (These are not determiners, but it is convenient to deal with them here.)
Quantifiers are covered in Section 11.

articles: preliminary note

Western European languages such as French, German, Swedish, Greek or Spanish have articles
that rvork more or less like English a/an and f/re. Speakers of these languages will have some
problems with English articles, but not too manl'. The most irnportant dilference is the common
English use of no article in generalisations - fhe does not mean 'alll Compare:
People are unpredictable. French Les gens sont imprit,isibles.
I like music. German Ich liebe (die) Musik.
Life is a dream. Spanish La vida es suefio.

Students rvho speak other languages may find correct article use difficult, even at this level.
Four important things to remember are:
1. We use the rvhen both the speaker and the hearer know which one(s) is/are meant.
Have you Jbd the dogs? (!Ve both knor,v which dogs. )
Once there was a beautiful princess who lived in a big castle. One day the princess il,d,s out ricling ..
(You knor'l'which princess - the one i told you about in the first sentence.)
There's the man who sold me n'ty car, (l'm telling you which man.)

2. In other cases we most often use a/qn with singular countable noLrns; some or no article with
r.rncountables and plurals.
My sister married an architect. (not an architect that 1'eu know about)
I d like to be a dancer. We need some pasta. There are problems at work.
3. We use no article when we talk about people or things in general, using uncountable or
plural nouns. (Tfte does not mean 'alll)
I like music. Food is expensive. People are funny. I don't trust banks.
4. Singular countable nouns must normally have an article or other determiner. We can say
the house, a house, this house, my house, every house,but not just house. (There are a few
exceptions in lixed expressions like in bed, by bus: see page 144).
Not all article uscs lbllol. thesc rulcs. hlLt ntost d('. For sgrccirl cares. scc pa:ics I,18- 1.19.

142 DETERMINERS (1): ARTICLES, DEMONSTR,{TIVES AND POSSESSiVES

articles: revise the basics
Put in a, an,the or - (= no article).

'ffhis is'............... story I heard lrlot surprisingly, "............... farmer was not at
S 1.............. long time ago. I believe it's all pleased: he wanted
true. There was 1 . . . .. .. . ... .. . little girl living
in 4............... small village near '1.............. lot of i.............. archaeologists.
1.............. Oxford, who was very interested in He told 2u............... girl's mother that
1.............. history. She had learnt at 1............,.
school about 8.....,......... time when'............... that anyway they were to say nothing to anybody.
Romans governed'q.............. Britain, and So'z8............... little girl kept quiet, said nothing
seen "............... picrures of their villas with to t1.............. teacher, and forgot about
u1.............. century
their mosaic floors, and she thought they were '"............... villa for half
beautiful. So '1 . . . . . . . . .. . . .. girl decided to discover But 32............... one day, when she was
11.............. old lady and'1.............. farmer was
'1 . . .. .. .. . .. . . . Roman villa herself She took
11
. ... .. . .. ,. . . . her little spade, went into one of long since dead, she was talking to'1..............
friend of hers who was 36.
. .. .. .. .. ... . . archaeologist,
and started digging. Ten minutes later she found and she mentioned u1.............. discovery she
ut
'1......,....... piece of mosaic. She ran home and had made when she was .............. little girl.
showed t8............,.. mosaic to her mother, who He went to look, and'1.............. villa was
went and told t1.............. farmer who owned rediscovered.
'u............... fieid.

All except two of sentences 1-10 have mistakes in.

Correct the mistakes or write'Correct'.
p My mother collects an<ild5ooks . ..p.\4.Vp.qts9.....
tr Do you have a reservatrcn? ..99.Yf99I ..............
I L-r my grandfathert time, chilclren usually left the school at 14. '' '... '.....
2 My youngest brother is medical student.
3 Could you close a door when you go out? ...........
4 The most people like watching football.
5 Computers can do nearly everything. .........
6 I lived in the North Wales for a few years.
7 Howt the Peteri new job going? ........
8 My boyfriend's got the very complicated personalitl'. '...........
9 Have you got an aspirin? I've got a headache.
10 Whats most stupid thing yotive ever done?

Five of these rules are good. Which are the two bad ones?

I The means something like'We both know which one(s) I'm talking aboutl
2 We use a/an to talk about peopie and things that are not known to both the speaker
and listener (for example, when we mention something for the first time).
3 We often prt a/an or the before my, your, /rl-s etc.
4 We drop the in some common expressions llke in hospital, to bed.
5 We use a/an when we say what somebodys job is.
6 We often tse a/an before the names of countries, counties, states etc.
7 We dont usually use the when we are talking about people or things in general'
The does not mean 'a111

Rules ... and ... are the bad ones. ->

DETERMINERS (1): ARTICLES, DEMONSTRATIVES AND POSSESSIVES 143

articles: revise the basics (continued)
generalising Remember that in English, when we talk about people or things in general,
we don't normally use the.
People are funny. (NorT@) I like music.
For generalisations like the telephone, the wolf, see page 116.

$HF
: '' "':'
from the box. Use a dictionary if necessary. Don't use the.
archaeologists botanists chefs dermatologists farmers financialadvisers
florists gynaecologists horticulturalists estateagents nurses paediatricians
stockbrokers surgeons zoologists

1 .............. specialise in women's health.

2 ............. buy and sell property.
3 ............. specialise in skin problems.
4 ............. know about garden plants.
5 ............. operate on sick people.
6 ............. tell people what to do with their money.
7 ............. specialise in children's health.
8 ............. raise animals and crops for food.
9 ............. cook food in restaurants and hotels.
10 sell flowers.
11 look after patients in hospitals.
12 buy and sell shares in companies.
13 look for the remains of past civilisations.
14 ............ study animals.
15 study plants.

dropping articles In a few common kinds of expression, we drop articles after prepositions.
She learnt about the Romans at school. (Nor ... affi)
.,;,.
iii;;1 Four of sentences 1-10 are wrong. Correct the mistakes or write'Correct'.
p Helen's at school todav. ..99.YY9.-c!..............
r I'll meet you outside ehrenra. .. P.*!-s.l 4.q .\bg.giry|,W.q.'. .....

I I'm going to sit in garden for a bit.

2 lf you're tired, why dont you go to bed?
3 Susan's been in hospital for the last week.
4 When did your brother come out of prison?
5 Do you think everybody should go to university? ...........
6 Let's eat in kitchen - itt more comfortable.
7 I go to gym for an hour most evenings. ..............
8 You're not supposed to make private phone calls at work.
9 Is Henry in office yet? ...........
10 Mary goes to church twice every Sunday.
I I I don t have to go to the work tomorrow.
12 fessie won t start the school untii she's six years old.

144 DETERMINERS (1): ARTICLES, DEMONSTRATIVES AND POSSESSIVES

+ . , Decide whether the rules are right or wrong (three are wrong),
and complete the examples correctly.
1 We drop a/an in exclamations. Right / Wrong
What crazy / a crazy ideal
2 We often drop a/an after as. Right / Wrong
I worked / a tourist guidelast summer.
as tourist guide
3 We drop the in common expressions relating to meals. Right / Wrong
I had lunch / the lunch with Pam today. I always read the paper at breakfast / at the breakfast
4 We often drop a/an after without, Right / Wrong
You cant drive a bus without special licence / a special licence.
5 We drop a/an after by in some common expressions relating to travel. Right / Wrong
Itb quickest to go there by car / by a car. And it costs more by train / by the train.

geographical names Some place names normally have the (for example the names of seas
and oceans, llke The Atlantic); others do not (for example the names of countries, like Scotland).

Find three more examples of each kind of geographical name.

= Use the internet or a dictionary to check what the places are called in English.
Be careful to use the or no article as necessary.
continents *Siq
countries ..F.qq!l?.ry4
counties, states etc ..Yqf.F*tryy\r...... ..!.e.442r............ ..N.qf.ryq.ry.4A....

towns ..F..91fi9l..........
streets oxford stff:*...........
buildings ..!n9.?!*Y.q*2ry........,

seas and oceans ..!re atkwtio...

lakes .. !3!99 €*P9f.Wf.......

rivers ..lh.e..Jh3.Tt99

deserts . .1h 9. F q\q.Y?. .P.?.s.9*

countries with the Note that we use the with the names of countries when these are plural or
when they contain a noun llke Republic, Kngdom.
The Netherlands The United States The Dominican Republic

fo-= Write the English names of a few places in the world that you would like to see.

DETERMINERS (1): ARTICLES, DEMONSTRATIVES AND POSSESSIVES 145