Posted: 12 May 2013 08:02 PM PDT
Among lists of parts of speech, you may see an unfamiliar word among
nouns,
verbs,
conjunctions, and the other usual suspects. What’s a determiner?
A determiner is a word that modifies a noun or a noun phrase. That’s also the definition of
adjective,
but although both parts of speech modify nouns, determiners are
distinct from adjectives in several respects, most obviously in that the
latter express attributes, whereas determiners express relationship.
(These categories also differ in that although the inventory of
adjectives is innumerable, most types of determiners include a finite
number of words.)
The categories of determiners include the following:
- articles (a, an, and the)
- possessive nouns (for example, John’s, wife’s in “my wife’s,” and doctor’s in “the doctor’s”)
- possessive pronouns (such as hers and mine)
- indefinite pronouns (like each, either, all, and fewer)
- demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those, and such)
- numbers (five, “a hundred,” and so on)
There are only three articles and five demonstrative pronouns, and
the number of possessive and indefinite pronouns is also limited; only
possessive nouns and numbers are limitless, but they are included with
other determiners because their function is similar to that of the other
types.
Note, however, that possessive nouns, by their very nature, require
assistance from one of the other types of determiners. For example, some
require an article (“the missile’s trajectory”), some need a pronoun
(such as the possessive pronoun
our, as in “our house’s address sign”), and some are accompanied by a number (“three players’ uniforms”).
Two similar classes of words are quantifiers and predeterminers. A
quantifier, as the name signifies, expresses how much or how many of
something exists or exist. This type, sometimes considered another
variety of determiner and sometimes placed in its own category, consists
of words and phrases that indicate quantity, such as
few,
all,
or “a couple of”; numbers are sometimes classed with these general
quantifiers. (Quantifiers can be combined with other determiners, such
as in “their many detractors” or “all the bottles.”)
Some quantifiers work with count nouns but not with mass, or
noncount, nouns (“many horses,” but not “many water”); others are used
only with mass nouns (“little water,” but not, in the context of
quantity rather than size, “little horses”). Others are suitable for
both count and mass nouns (“some horses,” “some water”). (
See this post for a discussion of count and mass nouns.)
Predeterminers, as the name indicates, refers to words that precede
determiners. These include multipliers and fractions (for example,
twice and
one-half, or just half, in “twice my size” and “one-half of his fortune”) and intensifiers (for example,
quite and
rather in “quite the scholar” and “rather more people than I expected”).
Original Post: What Is a Determiner?
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