Determiners

Determiners are words that introduce nouns. These are the different types:

Articles: a, an, the
Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
Possessive Adjectives: my, your, her, his, our, its, their, whose
Quantifiers: a little, a few, many, much, a lot of, most, any, some, enough

Numbers: one, five, forty
Distributives: both, all, half, neither, either, every, each
Interrogatives: what, which, whose

The grammar rules for determiners are that they:

Always come before a noun
Come before any modifiers (e.g. adjectives) used before the noun
Are required before a singular noun
Are optional before plural nouns

Here are some examples of determiners used with the noun 'house':

Determiners are commonly used as part of noun phrases, which will also include a modifier (an adjective, another noun, a possessive form, or an adverb-adjective combination).

Here are some examples of noun phrases that consist of:

determiner + modifier + noun

Examples of Determiners

Here are some more examples of determiners with nouns in sentences. The determiner is in red and the noun is in bold. Note the modifiers separating them in certain cases:

Articles

Articles can be definite articles (the) or indefinite (a or an). The is used when the speaker thinks that the listener already knows what is being referred to. Otherwise a (before consonants) or an (before vowels) is used.

There are many rules though around articles which need to be studied carefully.

She took a significant amount of time to learn English
I bought a nice present for my uncle
There's an otter over there
The beaches in Goa are beautiful
I'll give you an example of the essay question

Learn more about articles >>

Demonstratives

Demonstrative determiners are used to identify or point to a particular person, event, or object. This and that are singular. These and those are plural.

I like this kind of biscuit
Why don't you buy that book instead of this one?
Those children outside are being too noisy for this time of night
I'll take these pills for my back ache later

Demonstrative Adjectives Quiz >>

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjective determiners function as adjectives rather than pronouns. As they are adjectives, they appear before the noun that they are modifying.

Do you like my new dress?
I prefer my uniform to yours (i.e. your uniform)
Take your phone out of your pocket
I really respect her controversial views on abortion
His old motorbike is a classic
Let's let them use our house for their wedding reception
The dog has eaten its food

Possessive Adjectives Quiz >>

Quantifiers

Quantifiers provide approximate or specific answers to the questions "How many?" and "How much?"

I only take a little bit of milk with my tea
Quite a few people should be coming to the party
I didn't take many holidays last year
I haven't brought much money with me
Do you think a lot of people believe what he says?
Most students work hard to pass their exams
Have you got any proof that he committed the crime?
It takes some effort for me to do exercise
Do we have enough rice to last the week?

Numbers

Numbers are either cardinal (one, two, three, etc.), which are adjectives referring to quantity, or ordinal (first, second, third, etc.) referring to distribution.

Two cars are enough for most families
There are about twenty-five people in my office
It's my fortieth birthday next week
That is the second time you've done that!

Distributives

Distributive determiners are used to refer to a group or individual members of the group. They reveal more about how people or things are distributed, shared, or divided.