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11th, Determiners

 Grammar-Determiners, their types and examples

What is a Determiner-

It means ‘to mark’, ‘to fix’ or ‘to limit’. Therefore a determiner is a word which limits or fixes the meaning of a noun

Kinds of Determiners:

There five types of determiners:

  1. Articles (a/an/the)

  2. Possessives (my/our/your/his/her/their/its etc.)

  3. Numerals (one/two/three/first/second etc.)

  4. Quantitative (all/any/some/little/much etc.)   

  5. Demonstratives (this/that/these/those)

1. Articles

Indefinite article (a/an)

  1. First time before singular noun (countable)

  2. In the numerical sense of the word ‘one’

  3. In expressions of price, speed for ‘per’

  4. For the names of professions and occupations

  5. Before ‘few’ and ‘little’

Definite article (the)

  1. At second time before a noun

  2. With noun which is only one (as the earth/the sky/the weather/the North Pole)

  3. Before superlative degree of adjectives

  4. With the people of country (as Indian/French/English)

  5. Before first, second, only etc.

  6. Before plural names of countries (as The USA/The West Indies)

  7. Before special meals

  8. Before Mountain, Rivers, Islands, Holy Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Historical Buildings, Trains, Ships, Planes, Oceans etc.

2. Possessives (my/our/your/his/her/their/its etc.)

(a) They are used before nouns to show the idea of possession

3. Numerals (one/two/three/first/second etc.)

  1. Definite Numerals (for exact number as Cardinal- One, two, three. Ordinals-first/second/third)

  2. Indefinite Numerals (as a few, several, any, all etc.)

  3. Distributive Numerals (as each, every, either, neither)

4. Quantitative (all/any/some/little/much etc.)   

     Words like some, any, little, much, are the determiners of quantity

  1. Some is used in affirmative sentences

  2. Any is used in Negative sentences

  3. Few/little in negative sense

  4. A few/a little for some

  5. The Few/The few for complete or all 

5. Demonstratives (this/that/these/those)

  1. for singular this and that (this for near things, that for away thins)

  2. for plural these and those (these for near things, those for away thins)

Exercise-2

Fill in the blanks with ‘some’ or ‘any’

  1. There isn’t ……………boot-polish in this tin. (any)

  2. You have …………..fine flowers in your garden. (some)

  3. We had ……….tea, but there wasn’t ….sugar to put in it. (some, any)

  4. Will you have …..more tea? (some)

  5. I want ….tea. (some)

  6. There is not…..milk in that jug. (any)

  7. Can you give me….more information? (any)

  8. Is there …..letter for me. (any)

  9. He bought …..honey. (some)

Exercise-3

Fill in the blanks with little, a little, the little, few, a few and the few

  1. He gave me …..books he had. (the few)

  2. ……money is better than nothing. (A little)

  3. Only …..boys were present in the meeting. (a few)

  4. Bring me …..water to drink. (a little)

  5. I want ….. sugar for tea. (a little)

Exercise-4

Choose the correct determiners and fill in the blanks:

  1. …………..mangoes are not ripe. (this/these)

  2. I want to buy …….mangoes. (this/these)

  3. Ram has bought …….house (this/those)

  4. You should love ……country. (your/our)

  5. The Hindus burn….dead. (his/their)

  6. We must do …..duty. (our/your)