Determiners

Lecture 6

The articles are central among

these units.

They have no function independent of the noun.

These linguistic units constitute a closed system.

In addition to articles, this system includes the

pronouns: possessive, interrogative,

demonstrative, indefinite, negative, distributive,

quantitative, etc.

Pronouns and Determiners

Pronoun Determiner

This is a very boring book. This book is very boring.

That’s an excellent film. That film is excellent.

Pronouns function in much the same way as

nouns

This is a very boring book. ~ Ivanhoe is a very

interesting book.

That’s an awful film. ~ Scream is an awful film.

On the other hand, when these words are

determiners, they cannot be replaced by

nouns:

This book is very interesting. ~ *Ivanhoe book is very

interesting.

That film is awful. ~ *Scream film is awful.

The personal pronouns (I, you, he, etc)

cannot be determiners.

Possessive Pronoun Determiner

The white car is mine. My car is white.

Yours is the blue coat. Your coat is blue.

The car in the garage is

his/hers.His/her car is in the garage.

David’s house is big, but ours

is bigger.

Our house is bigger than

David’s.

Theirs is the house on the left. Their house is on the left.

This is also true of the possessive pronouns

(mine, yours, his/hers, ours, and theirs).

Numerals and determiners

Numerals are determiners when they appear

before a noun.

cardinal numerals - quantity, e.g. one book, two

books, twenty books

ordinal numerals - sequence, e.g. first

impressions, second chance, third prize

When they do not come before a noun,

numerals are a subclass of nouns, e.g. the two

of us, the first of many.

The Articles

John saw a unicorn in the garden.

2 major types of reference:

specific reference is to one or more specific, identifiable referents, e.g. John saw a tiger in the garden. The reference is here to one specific tiger and one specific garden.

generic reference is to a whole class of referents, either distributively to any member of the class, e.g. Tigers are beautiful beasts, or collectively to the class as a whole, e.g. Sabre-toothed tigers are extinct.

Article distribution

Generic or Specific?

A tablet is a machine. I got a tablet for Christmas.

The tablet has changed

modern computers.

I installed the new tablet early in

the morning of December 24.

Tablets are not yet to be

found everywhere.

I now own 3 tablets.

Drawing tables and

diagrams is a process that

computers handle

efficiently.

Without Microsoft Excel on my

tablet, I would find it difficult to

process data.

Music can be played on

tablets.

I play the music of Beethoven on

my tablets.

Countable nouns

Specific reference

Singular

Plural

New information

I read a book

and some journals on the train.

The train drove past Ø villages,

Ø fields and Ø clumps of trees.

Given information

The book was boring,

but the journals were interesting.

The villages looked dirty, but the

fields and the trees were covered

with white snow.

Generic reference

Singular

Plural

A lion is a dangerous beast. (distributive generic reference)

The lion is a dangerous beast. (collective generic reference)

Lions are dangerous beasts. (collective or distributive generic reference)

Uncountable nouns

Specific reference

Singular

Plural

Singular

New information

I bought some wine

and some clothes yesterday.

There's some/Ø beer in the

fridge.

Given information

The wine was expensive,

but the clothes were cheap.

The beer should be cold by now.

Generic reference

Singular

Plural

John likes Ø wine./Ø Wine is expensive here.

Ø Clothes are cheap there.

Special cases

The definite article

We can recognize a number of cases where

the definite article is used without

contrasting with the other articles.

This is always the case with the following

categories of proper nouns:

A. Plural geographical names

Countries and regions: the Netherlands, the United States, the Midlands

Mountain ranges, groups of islands: the Rockies, the Himalayas, the Pyrenees, the Andes; the Canaries (or the Canary Islands)

B. Singular geographical names

Seas: the Atlantic, the North Sea, the

Norwegian Sea, the Pacific

Rivers: the Thames, the Avon, the Danube,

the Euphrates, the Nile, the Potomac

Canals: the Suez Canal, the Erie Canal

Certain countries: the United Kingdom, the

Soviet Union

C. Various social institutions

Cultural institutions (theatres, museums, libraries, galleries, cinemas): the Globe, the Victoria and Albert, the Bodleian, the Palladium

Restaurants, clubs, hotels: the Ritz, the Sheraton

D. Newspapers: The Times, The Independent, The Observer, The New Haven Advocate(but zero article in names of magazines and journals: Punch, Time, Life, Language)

E. Ships: the Victory, the Titanic

F. Organizations: the United Nations, the

European Union

The definite article is also used with

nominalized adjectives, including certain

nationality adjectives. Such constructions

always have generic reference: the poor,

the rich, the blind, the English, the Irish.

Note the difference between the English

(generic) and the Englishmen (specific).

The with longer noun groups

We do not normally use the with U nouns

because they refer to sth in a general way.

However, the is required if the U noun is

followed by a qualifier which relates it to a

particular person, thing.

Example: I am interested in the education of

young children.

The indefinite article

It is used to talk about things or

people in an indefinite way.

A or an are put in front of the sg.

form of a C noun.

Example: An old lady was calling

to him.

The indefinite article

it derives historically from the unstressed

form of 'one',

Example: a mile or two /one or two miles/

with noun phrases which do not refer, but ascribe a property to the referent of the subject NP or pronoun:

Ian is a Scot. Peter is an engineer.

She is a 1st-year student. He is a bachelor.

If, on the other hand, the NP refers to a

unique holder of an office/position, the

definite article (or the zero article) is used:

Peter is (the) chairman of the Board.

After the preposition as, however, the

zero article is used: Speaking as

chairman, I cannot accept this proposal.

The indefinite article

The indefinite article

Although we do not normally use

determiners with U nouns, we can use

a/an + U noun when it is modified.

Example: She had an eagerness for life.

The indefinite article

when using one individual person or thing to make a general statement about all people or things of this type

Example: A computer can only do what you program it to do.

but usually we would use the plural form of a noun without a determiner

The zero article

The generic use - plural nouns and uncountable

nouns (‘undifferentiated whole’):

Lions are dangerous animals.

Theory must go hand in hand with practice.

kinship terms (Mother, Father, Uncle, Granny):

Mother helped them. vs. The mother helped them.

certain occupational terms

J. F. Kennedy was President of the US in 1961.

English zero article and definite forms of

nouns in Bulgarian

abstract uncountables with generic reference: Life is a struggle;

institutions: go to church/school; go to/be in hospital/prison (AmE the hospital)

(but: They went to the church but the door was locked so they couldn't get in);

means of transport and communication: travel by car, communicate by telephone

certain time expressions: Spring seemed a long way away; Easter is early next year; at dawn, after dark, before morning came

meals (Dinner is ready);

illnesses: appendicitis, diabetes, influenza, pneumonia

But: (the) flu, (the) measles, (the) mumps

Ordering of determiners

Pre-

determiner

Central

Determiner

Postdeter

miner Noun

I met all my many friends

A sentence like this is unusual, because it is

rare for all three determiner slots to be filled.