Determiners

Linguistic Overview

Determiners are a closed lexical class, which means there is a defined set of words that classify as determiners, and new words are rarely if ever added to that list.

Unlike adjectives, determiners do not describe their nouns; rather they express which noun the speaker is referring to. Determiners are often relative to context, whether that means they indicate that their particular nouns have already been mentioned, or they indicate specificity based on the listener’s understanding of the setting or situation.

Some determiners are definite and refer to unique or distinct nouns. These include ‘the’, Demonstratives, Possessives, and a few determiners of amount like ‘every’ and ‘all’.
Some determiners are indefinite and may narrow the possible nouns they reference without getting specific. These include ‘a’ and most determiners of amount.

Determiners are the first part of noun phrases; they precede nouns as well as any adjectives. Determiners are not used with other nominals like pronouns, Gerunds, Content Clauses, etc. — only with lexical nouns.

The central determiners are Articles, Demonstratives, Interrogative/Relative determiners, and Possessives. There can only be one central determiner for each noun; you cannot use my and the together, or an and this together. However, amount determiners (Distributives, Quantifiers, and Numerals) can act as pre-determiners if accompanied by ‘of’ (as in “seven of my friends”) or as post-determiners (as in “my seven friends”). A noun phrase can include a pre-determiner and a central determiner, or a central determiner and a post-determiner (or even all three, though that’s not terribly common).

Central Determiners

Articles

The most common determiners are the definite article the and the indefinite article a(n).

the — the definite article indicates a very specific noun. The exact noun should be obvious to the audience, either because it has already been referred to in the conversation or because context clues make it clear. The can be used with singular or plural nouns. The definite article is usually for common nouns, but some proper nouns include the in their titles.
a(n) — the indefinite article indicates that the referred to common noun is one out of multiple possible versions of that noun. The speaker might have a specific instance of that noun in mind, but the listener has not identified it it. Alternatively, the speaker may not have a specific noun in mind.

The exact form of either article depends on the starting sound of the word that immediately follows it, whether that word is a noun or an adjective:

When the following word starts with a consonant sound, the definite article is usually pronounced with a schwa sound (/ðə/) and the indefinite article is ‘a’.
When the following word starts with a vowel sound, the definite article is usually pronounced with a long e sound (/ði/) and the indefinite article is ‘an’.

When the is stressed — perhaps to emphasize the uniqueness of the noun or its absolute qualities — speakers tend to use the long e (/ði/) regardless of the following sound.

Demonstratives

Demonstrative Determiners are ones that refer to a noun that is clearly evident. In many cases, the noun is literally present in the same space as the speaker and/or the audience and can be pointed to. In other cases, they may imply “the very noun(s) that we just mentioned or experienced”.

There are only four Demonstratives in common use, and they are among the first words that English language learners tend to learn.

*this* (near, singular)	*that* (distant, singular)
*these* (near, plural)	*those* (distant, plural)

These four words can also be used as pronouns when the noun they indicate does not need to be voiced. Consider “That is heavy” (pronoun) vs. “That box is heavy” (determiner). The meaning of the pronoun is nearly the same; only the role within its sentence has changed slightly.

Interrogatives

Interrogative Determiners are used for information that is sought after. In many cases, the details are unknown to the speaker; however, it may be the case that the speaker knows what these determiners refer to, but uses interrogative forms to make a point.

Interrogative Determiners are all ‘wh’ words:

which — referencing a subset out of a following group of nouns (the possible options are probably known)
what — referencing a subset out of a following group of nouns (the possible options are probably unknown)
whose — referencing a person or thing that possesses a following noun
how many — referencing the quantity of a following countable noun (this is also a pre-determiner of amount; see below)
how much — referencing the quantity of a following uncountable noun (this is also a pre-determiner of amount; see below)

These determiners typically come at the start of some question forms (like Subject Questions or Predicate Questions) or at the start of some Content Clauses.

Relative Determiner

The determiner whose can be used in Relative Clauses. It carries the same essential meaning as it does when acting as an interrogative. It’s also the only Relative Linker that is simultaneously a determiner.

Possessives

Possessive Determiners indicate ownership or some other association (membership, development, affiliation, etc.) between an entity and the following noun.

Some Possessive forms are rooted in pronouns:

Personal Possessives: my, our, your, her, his, its, their
Indefinite Possessives: one’s, whoever’s, everyone’s, someone’s, anyone’s, no one’s, nobody’s
Distributive & Reciprocal Possessives: each’s, either’s, both’s, each other’s, one another’s

Other Possessive forms are rooted in nouns. These are typically nouns that exhibit some type of agency, and they are often proper nouns. But there is no real restriction for which nouns can take a possessive form. Noun Possessives end with ‘s, unless they are plurals with s endings:

Singular nouns, regardless of their ending, take on ‘s (Moira’s, the company’s, Chris’s)
Plural nouns that end in s take on only the apostrophe (our dogs’, the McArthurs’)
Plural nouns that do not end in s take on ‘s (women‘s, the alumnae’s, people’s)

Determiners of Amount

The remaining determiners can be broken into three categories:

Distributive Determiners
- every, each, both, either, neither
Quantifier Determiners
- indicate a general amount, but are not specific numbers
- few, a few, several, plenty, a bunch, a lot, many, a great deal, most, etc.
- Indefinites: no, some, any, all
- Comparatives: fewer, less, more
- Sufficiencies: plenty, enough, too many, too much
- Multipliers/Fractions: double, half, part of, thrice, twice
Numeral Determiners
- aka ‘Ordinal Determiners’
- none, one, single, couple, dozen, etc.
- 1, 2, 3, … 99, 100, …

How many and how much are also determiners of amount (while still being Interrogatives).

Unlike central determiners, amount determiners can be used in conjunction with other determiners.

Pre-Determiners

Most expressions of amount can come before a central determiner. This includes virtually all of the Distributives, Quantifiers, and Numerals as listed above, as well as multipliers (like twice and double) and fractions (like half or part).

As pre-determiners, most amounts should be accompanied by ‘of’. Exceptions are all, every, both, half, and multipliers, which can work with or without ‘of’.

See the following examples, in which the pre-determiner is underlined and the central determiner is bold:

each of these things
some of my things
a few of the things
12 of those things
twice the things
half a thing
part of this thing
how many of your things

Note that most pre-determiners can exist without central determiners (in which case the ‘of’ is not needed). For example: “each thing”, “some things”, “a few things”, “12 things”, and “how many things”.

Post-Determiners

Some expressions of amount can come after a central determiner, though there are fewer of these. They include every, general Quantifiers that don’t start with ‘a’ (such as few, several, and many) and all Numerals. Also included are ordinals like first, second, last, etc., although those might instead be regarded as limiting adjectives.

See the following examples, in which the central determiner is bold and the pre-determiner is underlined:

my every thing
the few things
which 3 things
these dozen things
your first thing

Note that not every post-determiner works without a central determiner preceding it. For example, one cannot say “dozen things” or “first thing”; one needs a central determiner to start these phrases.

The Null Determiner

The null determiner, also called the empty determiner, simply means that no determiners are voiced at the start of the noun phrase.

Since determiners are primarily used to specify their nouns, the null determiner is used when a noun should not be specified. Common nouns can be used without any determiners when they are plural, in which case that noun phrase is used to generally represent all nouns of that sort. For instance, from the sentence “Cats are stubborn,” we understand that the speaker believes that all or most cats are stubborn instead of referring to any cats in particular.

The null determiner is also used with most proper nouns. Determiners usually do not work to specify them since proper nouns are already very specific. However, we might use determiners before proper nouns in casual speech to create distinctions; I might say “My Rosanna” in order to specify someone named Rosanna that I often associate with in contrast to a different woman named Rosanna that I only recently met (but whom might conceivably be included in the context of the conversation).

Advanced Concepts

Determiners vs. Adjectives

Determiners and adjectives both modify nouns, and sometimes the distinction between these two parts of speech is hazy (especially when it comes to post-determiners and Limiting Adjectives like ‘first’, ‘most’, and ‘best’). But there are some factors that distinguish the two.

Determiners are a ‘closed class’, which means that there are limited words that serve as determiners, and we generally can’t add more words to that list. Adjectives, on the other hand, are an ‘open class’, which means there is no limit to how many we have, and we add new adjectives to our lexicon all the time.
Adjectives can either specify a noun or describe it (in which case the added information does not help the listener identify which noun the speaker refers to). Determiners always specify their nouns. Therefore, many adjectives are optional, but determiners never are.
Adjectives can come just before their nouns, after Linking Verbs, or sometimes in other places like immediately after their nouns or in a prepositional phrase. Determiners only ever come at the start of their noun phrases.

In summary, determiners are much more limited than adjectives.

Determiners vs. Pronouns

Some words that act as determiners can also be used as pronouns — this includes all the Demonstratives, some of the Interrogatives, and some of the amounts (such as all, either, some, fewer, both, and none). Even numbers can act like nouns instead of determiners. Consider the following:

“This task is difficult.” – vs. – “This is difficult.”
“Which flavor do you want?” – vs. – “Which do you want?”
“Both options are enticing.” – vs. – “Both are enticing.”
“Seven of the soldiers have returned so far.” – vs. – “Seven have returned so far.”

The two sentences in each pair carry the same meaning. In the second sentence for each, the original noun is not voiced, but it is still understood (in these cases, the audience should know what the noun is based on context clues or because the original noun was already mentioned). At the beginning of a conversation, the first sentences are more likely to be used because the context and that particular noun still need to be established.

These can be thought of as substantive determiners.

Words Preceding ‘of’

Words followed by ‘of’ — which are then followed by central determiners — are labeled here as Pre-Determiners. However, an argument can be made that these words are nouns and that what follows is a prepositional phrase. Consider the following:

each of my friends
a few of those trucks
part of the problem
how much of the performance

Each bold word or phrase might act as a nominal. The underlined phrases are prepositional phrases that modify that noun. Those prepositional phrases, as non-essential modifiers, could conceivably be removed from their sentences, and their sentences should still make sense. Take for example: “I gave each of my friends a ticket to the show,” reduced to “I gave each a ticket to the show.” The latter sentence should still work as long as the audience already knows or can figure out that the speaker is referring to their friends.

This assessment and the categorization of these words as pre-determiners are both valid interpretations of how grammar works. As an educator, you should take whichever approach makes the most sense for what your students need to learn at the time.

Amounts Pre- vs. Post-

What’s the difference between “ten of Jason’s shirts” and “Jason’s ten shirts”? They both have the same amount determiner (‘ten’) and the same central determiner (‘Jason’s’). The position of the amount determiner changes between the two phrases, but why does that matter?

In the first phrase, the speaker is referring to ten shirts out of all of the shirts that Jason has. We have no idea how many shirts Jason has in total, because we’re only focused on ten of them.
In the second phrase, it is understood that Jason only has ten shirts total, and that the speaker is referring to all of them.

This logic is consistent for all types of amount determiners that can be both pre-determiners and post-determiners.

English Grammar Encyclopedia for Educators