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‘Determiner’ is a word used before a norm to indicate which things or people we are talking
about. The words ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘my’, ‘this’, ‘some’, ‘many’, etc. are called determiners.
Kinds of Determiners:
Pre-determiners:
Pre-determiners are the words which occur before a determiner to limit the meaning of a noun:
Articles:
The article system in English consists of the definite article ‘the’ and the indefinite article ‘a’ or
‘anWe can think of nouns in a specific or general way. When we refer to particular people or
things or something that has already been mentioned or can be understood, we use the definite
article ‘the’. When we refer to singular nouns for the first time, or refer to things in a general way,
we use the indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’.
The definite article is used to refer to the things that are only one in the world:
We use the definite article with the words such as school, university, prison, when we are
referring to a particular building: .
The definite article may be used with the countable nouns that are used in the singular to refer
to things more general:
If you break the law, you will be punished.
We use the definite article before something that has already been mentioned.
The definite article is used before a noun that is followed by a relative clause or a
prepositional phrase:
The definite article is generally used before a noun which is followed by ‘of’:
The definite article is used before the names of seas, rivers, deserts, mountains,
The ship crossed the Pacific Ocean.
The definite article is used before the names of large public buildings:
The definite article is used before adjectives such as rich, poor, deaf, dumb, blind, to use them
as nouns:
We use the definite article before the names of trains and ships:
The article ‘a’ is used before the words which begin with consonant sounds and ‘an’ is used
before the words beginning with vowel sounds. However, some words start with a vowel letter
but begin with a consonant sound. So we use the article ‘a’ before these words:
When we use ‘a’ before ‘little’ and few’, there is a change in the meaning of these words. ‘A
Jew’ is used with plural countable nouns, and ‘a little’ with uncountable nouns. ‘Few’ means
not many, while ‘a few’ means a small number. ‘Little’ means not much, while ‘a little’ means
some:
Few people visit this temple now. I know a few students of this school.
There is little water in the bucket. There is a little milk in the bottle.
For example:
We use the indefinite article before certain nouns considered as a single unit:
She bought a knife and fork.
This and These refer to the things that are near and can be seen. ‘That’ and ‘Those’ are used to
refer to the things that are at a distance but can be seen.
‘This’ and ‘that’ are used for singular nouns and ‘‘these’’ and ‘those’ for plural nouns.
Possessives: My, our, your, his, her, its, their. The possessives are used to
show possession.
He is my uncle. Our neighbour is a rich man. Your daughter is beautiful.
I shall meet him the next week. He is the last man to help you
I met three young men at the station. He balanced himself on one foot
Each is used when we talk about the members of a group individually and every when we
make a general statement. Both are followed by a singular countable noun:
Either is used to talk about two things, but usually indicates that only one of the two is
involved.