Slide presentation on Determiners-Parts of Speech

2. •Determiners are words that introduce a noun and
provide some information about it (but do NOT describe
it).
•Examples: the ball, his son, five cats, more cars.
DETERMINERS

3. HOW DO WE IDENTIFY A DETERMINER?
If a word can appear here , it is a
determiner:
1. any common noun
Examples:
The thing, his things, five things, some things,
many things, a thing, several things, few things,
each thing, those things, their things, etc.
Note: some determiners, like “much”, may only
introduce noncount nouns.

4. THERE ARE FOUR TYPES OF
DETERMINERS:
Articles
Possessives
Demonstratives
Quantifiers

5. ARTICLES
There are only three articles in English:
The, a, an

6. “the” is called the Definite Article:
It normally introduces a noun that is familiar
to the listener. Example: The earth is round.
“the” may introduce either a singular or a
plural noun.
“a” or “an” are called the Indefinite Article:
“a” or “an” normally introduce a noun that is
not yet familiar to the listener. Example:
I saw a new movie.
“a” or “an” may only introduce a singular noun.

7. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “A” AND “AN”?
“a” precedes words that start with a
consonant sound.
Examples: a table, a chair,
and also… a eulogy
“an” precedes words that start with a
vowel sound.
Examples: an apple, an umbrella,
and also… an hour

8. DEMONSTRATIVES
Demonstratives are words that are used
to point at someone or something
(whether it’s concrete or abstract).
Examples: that book; this time; these
ideas; those chairs
There are only four demonstratives in
English:

9. Singular Demonstratives:
This
That
Plural Demonstratives:
These
Those

10. In order to be called a DETERMINER, a demonstrative
MUST be followed by a noun-phrase:
1. I like this room.
 “this” is a determiner in sentence (1).
2. I like this.
“this” is NOT a determiner in sentence (2).
How do we know?
Because determiners need to precede noun-
phrases! In sentence (2) no noun-phrase follows
the word “this”

11. IS THE UNDERLINED WORDA
DETERMINER?
•
•
•
•
John likes that movie.
That is the best.
That guy is nice.
John thinks that apples are tasty.
“that” in (4) is NOT a determiner, because
it is not used to point at apples!

12. POSSESSIVES
Possessives are words that usually
indicate possession or belonging of a
noun.
Examples: his birthday, Sam’s book,
her idea, New York’s subway
There are two kinds of possessives:
1. possessive determiner pronouns
2. possessive determiner proper nouns

13. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
There are only seven possessive
determiner pronouns:
my; your; his ; her ; its ; our ; their
Note:
-The difference between its and it’s.
-The difference between “their”,
“there” and “they’re”.

14. In order to be called a DETERMINER, a possessive
pronoun MUST be followed by a noun-phrase:
1. His essay was the best.
 “His” is a determiner in sentence (1).
2. His was the best essay.
“His” is NOT a determiner in sentence (2).
How do we know?
Because determiners need to precede noun-
phrases! In sentence (2) no noun-phrase follows
the word “his”.

15. ANOTHER WAY TO TEST IF A POSSESSIVE
PRONOUN IS A DETERMINER OR NOT:
Replace “his” with “her”, and see if the
sentence is grammatical:
1. His essay was the best. 
Her essay was the best.
2. His was the best exam. 
*Her was the best exam.
Since in (2) the Test Sentence gets a *,
“his” in (2) is NOT a determiner.

16. POSSESSIVE PROPER NOUNS
A proper noun with apostrophe ‘s is a
“possessive proper noun”
Examples:
Mary’s car, CUNY’s students, Mr.
Smith’s wife
(Note: These are Determiners, and
NOT proper nouns).

17. QUANTIFIERS
•QUANTIFIERS ARE WORDS THAT INDICATE THE
•QUANTITY OR AMOUNT OF A NOUN.
•EXAMPLES: THREE PENCILS; ALL COUNTRIES; SOME
BOOKS; LITTLE TIME; EACH STORY.
•COMMON QUANTIFIERS:
•ALL, ANY, BOTH, EACH, EITHER, ENOUGH, EVERY, FEW,
LITTLE, MOST, MUCH, NEITHER, NO, SEVERAL, SOME, ANY
NUMBER (E.G. FIVE, TWELVE, ETC.)

18. TO CONCLUDE:
The Determiners are:
•
•
•
•
Articles
Demonstratives
Possessives
Quantifiers