DETERMINER

Determiner & Quantifier

Determiner

Definition: Nouns are often preceded by the words "the", "a", or "an". These words are called "determiners". They indicate the kind of reference which the noun has. The determiner "the" is known as the "definite article". It is used before both singular and plural nouns. The determiner "a" (or "an", when the following noun begins with a vowel) is the "indefinite article". It is used when the noun is singular. Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type. You use a "specific determiner" when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about. The specific determiners are: The definite article : the Demonstratives : this, that, these, those Possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their For example: The dog barked at the boy. These apples are rotten. Their bus was late. You use "general determiners" to talk about people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. The general determiners are: the indefinite articles : a, an a few a little all another any both each either enough every few fewer less little many more most much neither no other several some For example: A man sat under an umbrella. Have you got any English books that I could have? There is enough food to feed everyone.

General and specific determiners

Determiners are words which come at the beginning of the noun phrase.
They tell us whether the noun phrase is specific or general.
Determiners are either specific or general

Specific determiners:

The specific determiners are:

• the definite article: the
• possessives: my, your, his, her, its; our, their, whose
• demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• interrogatives: which

We use a specific determiner when we believe the listener/reader knows exactly what we are referring to:

Can you pass me the salt please?
Look at those lovely flowers.
Thank you very much for your letter.
Whose coat is this?

General determiners:

The general determiners are:

• a; an; any; another; other; what

When we are talking about things in general and the listener/reader does not know exactly what we are referring to, we can use a uncount noun or a plural noun with no determiner:

Milk is very good for you. (= uncount noun)
Health and education are very important. (= 2 uncount nouns)
Girls normally do better in school than boys. (= plural nouns with no determiner)

… or you can use a singular noun with the indefinite article a or an:

A woman was lifted to safety by a helicopter.
A man climbing nearby saw the accident.

We use the general determiner any with a singular noun or an uncount noun when we are talking about all of those people or things:

It’s very easy. Any child can do it. (= All children can do it)
With a full licence you are allowed to drive any car.
I like beef, lamb, pork - any meat.

We use the general determiner another to talk about an additional person or thing:

Would you like another glass of wine?

The plural form of another is other:

I spoke to John, Helen and a few other friends.

Quantifiers

We use quantifiers when we want to give someone information about the number of something: how much or how many.

interrogative determiners: which and what

We use "which" as a determiner to ask a question about a specific group of people or things:

Which restaurant did you go to?
Which countries in South America have you visited?

When we are asking a general question we use "what" as a determiner:

What films do you like?
What university did you go to?

Definition: When words have a grammatical relationship which affects the form of one or more of the elements then they agree. We can also say that Agreement is a form of cross-reference among all parts of a sentence.

Note: Agreement is also known in some texts as Concord

Some of the most types of grammatical agreements are:

• Grammatical person: Example: You are VS she is.
• Grammatical number: Example: One cat VS Ten cats.
• Grammatical gender: Example: Jose loves his girlfriend VS Maria loves her dog.
• Grammatical case: Example: I played with you VS She played with me.

The following example will teach us to understand in a better way this important topic.

Example:

1. Five Cows
   Five Cows shows agreement because the Noun has the Plural Inflection, which is required by the Number. It is another way of saying Concord.

2. Twenty cats
   In this example, twenty cats shows agreement because the Noun has the Plural Inflection, which is required by the number.