Types of Determiners

Types of Determiners

1. ARTICLES

Articles are among the most common of the determiners. There are three singular articles: a, an, and the.

A and an are indefinite articles and are used when the speaker is talking about a general version of the noun. For example: a student in year 6 needs to work hard to do well in their exams.

The sentence is talking about any student. When the meaning is general, an indefinite article is used. Of course, a is used before words that begin with consonants while an is used before words that begin with vowels.

2.Quantifiers

Quantifiers indicate how much or how little of the noun which is being referred to. They include words such as all, few and many. For example:  few students like doing SATs

Please note that all can be used with other determiners to specify which particular items are meant, for example: all of the students.

3.Demonstratives

There are four demonstratives: this, that, these and those.

Demonstratives are used where the speaker can point to the item they mean. For example: That student.

This and these refer to objects nearby; that and those refer to items far away. This and that are also singular while these and those are plural.

4.Possessives

Possessives refer to a noun that belongs to someone or something. Possessives include my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. For example: My students are well behaved.