Tammy Bullis, Pei-ju (Cody)Ho & Sherry MacKay are
Determined to Help You Understand Determiners! The
Determinators
Slide 2
Determiners (Prenominal Modifiers) Signal nouns in one of three
ways. They define the relationship of the noun to the speaker,
listener, or reader. They identify the noun as specific or general.
They quantify the noun specifically or refer to quantity in
general.
Slide 3
Count and Noncount nouns SingularPlural Count Nounsa
hamburgerhamburgers Noncount Nounsjazz quality XXX Count noun a
noun that can be made plural Noncount noun a noun that can not be
made plural. a)Concrete- coffee b)Abstract - information
Slide 4
Types of Noncount Nouns 1. Things that come in very small
pieces - sugar 2.Whole made up of similar parts-sets of things -
luggage 3. Names of subjects of study - Biology 4. Abstractions -
courage 5. Liquids/fluids - blood 6. Gases - air 7. Solids/minerals
beef, gold 8. Sports/types of recreation basketball, homework 9.
Natural phenomena - snow 10. Diseases - diabetes A1-C
Slide 5
Types of Determiners TypesExamples Articles (a, an, the)Did you
buy your sweetie a Valentines Day card? Demonstrative determiners
(this, that) This is a big box of chocolates! Possessive
determiners (my, his) My boyfriend isnt very romantic. Nouns as
possessive determiners (Sultanahs friend) Jias boyfriend must miss
her. Quantifiers (all, any, few, many) All of the children
exchanged Valentines day cards.
Slide 6
Types of Determiners continued TypeExample Partitives (glass
of)Lets raise a glass of wine to our love. Cardinal numbers (one,
two) Do you want one or two roses? Ordinal numbers (first, second)
This is my first Valentines Day in the U.S. Multipliers (double,
three times) Hes going to spend three times the amount he spent of
her present last year. Fractions (three-fourths)One-half of all
married women wish their husbands would be more romantic.
Slide 7
Order of Determiners in Noun Phrases 1) Predeterminers
Quantifiers (all, both, each) Multipliers (double, twice, five
times) Fractions (three-fourths, two-fifths)
Slide 8
Order of Determiners in Noun Phrases 2) Central determiners
Quantifiers (any, every, some) Articles (a/an, the) Possessive
determiners (my, our, your) Nouns as possessive determiners
(Agnims, Sus) Demonstrative determiners (this, that)
Slide 9
Order of Determiners in Noun Phrases 3) Postdeterminers
Quantifiers (many, much, few, little, less, least, more, most)
Cardinal numbers (one, two) Ordinal numbers (first, last, next)
Partitives (loaf of/jar of) A2-C
Four Dimensions of Demonstrative Determiners 1) Physical
Distance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cizn1SlqJLI
Slide 12
Four Dimensions of Demonstrative Determiners 2. Time More
distant in time vs. more immediate in time. (That/Those) refer to
something that happened farther back Ex: We went skiing that
winter. (This/These) refer to something that happened more recently
Ex: We went skiing this winter.
Slide 13
Four Dimensions of Demonstrative Determiners contd 3.
Information Packaging Noun phrases with this/these often introduce
new information 1. Non-referential/existential there constructions
Ex: There is this class at CSUSB that you have to take! 2. Without
there Ex: So we went to this crazy party, which turned out to be a
party for our department.
Slide 14
Four Dimensions of Demonstrative Determiners contd 4.
Relevance: high/low This/That precede head nouns that have high
relevance for the speaker Ex: Who has the right to try a man for a
crime like genocide? Why, certainly it must be the courts of the
nation in which this terrible crime was committed. That/Those
precede head nouns that have low relevance for the speaker Ex: Who
has the right to try a man for a crime? Why, certainly it must be
the courts of the nation where that crime was committed. W1-C
Slide 15
Quantifiers A set of determiners that indicate an amount or
number of something. W2-C
Slide 16
When to Use Quantity Words Before plural count nouns: Before
both:Before non-count nouns: so many/too many FRIENDS a lot of
FRIENDS TRAFFIC So much/too much TRAFFIC manysomeA little fewnoSo
little/too little so few/too few anymuch Use no and some in
affirmative statements. Use any in negative statements and
questions Use much in negative sentences. Use a lot of in
affirmative and negative sentences
Slide 17
Quantifier Floating All, both and each can occur in more
position in a sentence. Ex:All of the students are creative. Part
of the subject NP All the students. The students all are creative.
After the noun when of is deleted. The students are all creative.
After the verb.
Slide 18
Quantifier Pronoun Flip When all, both and each appear in an NP
whose head is a pronoun, they must be followed by of and the
pronoun is therefore in the object form. Ex: All (of) his
girlfriends got rings. All of them got rings. Both of them got
rings. Each of them got rings X All them got rings. The quantifier
and pronoun can optionally switch positions through a rule called
quantifier-pronoun switch. When this happens, the pronoun, which no
longer follows of, has the subject form. Ex : They all got
rings.
Slide 19
Partitives Multiword expressions containing a count noun + of
(ex. piece of cake) that denote a unit by which a following head
noun can be counted. A can of soup A bag of flour A bottle of
ketchup A bunch of grapes A carton of eggs A loaf of bread
W3-C
Slide 20
Possessive Determiners SingularPlural myour your
his/her/itstheir Possessive determiners and possessive pronouns
appear to be similar Different syntactic categories based on
environment Determiners only occur in NPs preceding head nouns Ex:
He told my boyfriend. Pronouns occur only by themselves to mark
things that have already been mentioned. x Ex: That chocolate heart
is Caras and this one is mine.
Slide 21
Genitive Construction Of- Phrase Human & animals a)
Professors shiny black hair b) the tigers paw Entities, objects,
long noun phrases a) The roof of the house b) The creations of a
young designer Both Month, geographical locations a) Decembers
storms b) The storms of December Nouns as Possessive
Determiners
