Determiners

If we define it in simple words then a determiner is a word that defines a noun or gives any sort of information about the quantity of noun. It always comes before a noun not after, and it is also used before any other adjectives used to describe a noun. In the English language, determiners are used to make proper sentence structure and comprehension. 

Determiners are also very important because using determiners works to clarify nouns and make sentences as precise and focused as possible.

Many parts of speech, such as articles, demonstratives, quantifiers, and possessives, can act as a determiner. In this lesson, we will go over the definition of a determiner, discuss the types of determiners, and explore the uses of determiners.

Determiners are words that come before a noun and work to alter the noun. Determiners modify nouns by providing context and specificity to the noun. Let’s take a look at the following sentence and identify the modifier:

• That man is very skinny.

In this, The word ‘that’ is the determiner. 

That in this sentence is a determiner and it is used to define exactly which man is skinny about which we are talking in the sentence so to clarify this we used the ‘ That’ as a determiner to get the clarity and understand the sentence information. 

Many different parts of speech can operate as determiners. As stated previously, articles, demonstratives, quantifiers, and possessives are the most popular types of words that can be determiners before any adjectives that we used to define the noun.

Some of the examples of ‘The’ determiners are – 

1. The monkey ate the bananas ( in this sentence “banana” is an adjective which comes before the determiner “The” ) 
2. Plastic bottles are recyclable ( there is no determiner in this sentence because it is not mandatory for plural nouns and noun phrases )
3. The plastic bottles are recyclable ( in this sentence the ‘The’ is determiner before the adjective describing a plural noun to indicate which bottle )

Kinds of determiner 

In English, there are four different kinds of determiners 

1. Articles
2. Demonstrative
3. Quantifiers
4. Possessive

Articles

Articles also divided into two categories :

1. Definite Article
2. Indefinite Article 

A and an are definite articles

Eg. A horse is a fast animal.

      An owl is a night bird.  

‘The’ is an indefinite article

We are going to the Park.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are as follows :

This, these, That, and those. 

• Do you want to buy this car?
• These chocolates are very tasty 
• I don’t want to watch that show 
• He wanted to play with those toys in the park. 

Out of This, that, these, and those determiners this and that is singular while these and those are plurals. 

Determiners as qualifiers 

It consists of words such as all, few, and many.

• He ate all chocolates 
• Only a Few children go to school due to heavy rain.
• Many students fail in the exams. 

Possessive Determiners 

You can use a possessive pronoun to indicate ownership; these nouns refer to belonging to someone or something.

It includes my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.

• My best friend is an honest man.
• Your father is a successful lawyer.
• His mother is a doctor.
• Her brother is a state-level boxing champion .
• We can’t share our secret with you.
• The tree shed its leaves.
• Their school is the best school in the city. 

Things to remember while using determiners – 

Using the correct determiner in a sentence may be tricky but not as hard as it is seen. So now the =question  arises how can we choose the correct determiner ?  For the native English speakers those people who used determiners in their everyday life as well as in their writing . But for the people who don’t have such a good command in determiners and English is not their first language it’s helpful to know some rules :

• In the noun phrase Determiner always come first 
• We always used Determiner with singular nouns 
• Generally, we use indefinite articles ( a/an ) when we speak about singular nouns.
• But generally we don’t use a determiner while using plural noun 
• Use a definite article , demonstrative pronoun , possessive pronoun, or quantifier while using singular noun 
• Use a definite article , demonstrative pronoun , possessive pronoun, or quantifier while using plural nouns . 

Conclusion

Determiners are one of the most important parts of English Grammar and it carries a significant weightage in the Defence Competitive Examination. If you are looking forward to competing in any defence Competitive exam, then you must grasp determiners by heart.