determiners

Noun phrase introducers

Determiners are words that introduce nouns and specify which thing is meant.

They include articles (*a*, *an*, *the*), demonstratives (*this*, *that*, *these*, *those*), possessives (*my*, *your*, *his*), and quantifiers (*some*, *many*, *each*).

In the old house, *the* is the determiner; in my keys, *my* is.

Determiners answer questions like "which one?" or "how many?" and typically come before any adjectives: those three heavy boxes.

linguistic

grammar

Language's structural rules

specifier · definiteness · indefiniteness · agreement · number · case · distribution · anaphora

demonstrative

this

Demonstrative for nearness

  • thatThe other one
  • thesePlural demonstrative pronoun
  • thoseDistant plural indicator

proximal · distal · pointing · indicating · near · far · anaphoric · referential · contextual

possessive

my

First-person possessive

  • yourSecond-person possessive
  • hisMale possessive pronoun
  • herFemale object pronoun

its · our · their · whose · mine · yours · hers · ours · theirs · belonging

quantifying

all

The complete quantity

  • someIndefinite quantity
  • anyUnspecified quantity
  • noOpposite of yes

every · each · many · few · much · little · several · enough · more · most

distributive

each

Every one individually

both · any · all · per · apiece · individually · respectively · one by one · apportioning

articles

the

Not just any

  • aIndefinite singular article
  • anVowel-preceding indefinite article
  • definiteClearly established, not vague

indefinite · specific · nonspecific · generic · particular · unique · singular · plural · countable · uncountable

interrogative

which

Interrogative for selection

  • whatRequesting clarification or repetition
  • whosePossessive interrogative pronoun
  • whicheverAny one at all

whatever · question words · inquiry · choice · selection · querying

Categories
Opposites
grammatical function in noun phrases

determinersadjectives

Words that describe nouns

descriptors · pronouns · modifiers · qualifiers · nouns

word class type (closed vs. open class)

determinersnouns

Words naming entities

verbs · adjectives · adverbs

syntactic obligatoriness

determinersadjuncts

Supplementary additions or elements

adverbs · parentheticals · appositives

Phrases
Family

determined, determine, determines, determiner

Familiarity
Top 500,000
Profile
Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G