Page 17 - Grammar_Programme

Target 2: Pronouns and Determiners

Part Two: Determiners

Determiners are words that tell us more information about nouns. Determiners

are small words like ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘their’ or ‘many’. We put them before nouns to tell us:

Which one (or ones)? How many? Who owns it (or them)?

Look at how the different determiners in the examples below change the meaning
of the sentence:-
Latifa sat on a particular chair.
Latifa sat on the chair.

Latifa sat on a chair. Latifa sat on any chair.

Latifa sat on one chair. This tells you how many chairs Latifa sat on.

Latifa sat on my chair. This tells you whose chair Latifa sat on.
chair.

NOTE: We use ‘an’ instead of ‘a’ with nouns beginning with a vowel (a, e, i, o, and u).
Latifa sat on an armchair.

Here are examples of determiners:-

a an the this that those these
Which one or ones?
I bought this house. They like those sweets.

many several few some most
How many?
one two three (... and any number)

She has twenty bags! He has many friends.

Who owns the noun?
my your (singular) his/her/its
(These determiners are our your (plural) their
called POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS.) He has your address. The necklace is in its box.

Its, used as a determiner, does not have an apostrophe.
NOTE!
It’s (with an apostrophe) is the shortened form of ‘it is’.

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