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01.07.

2017 Art cles, Determ ners, and Quant f ers

A ,D , Select from the follow ng


Q

Def n t on
Art cles, determ ners, and quant f ers are those l ttle words that precede
and mod fy nouns:

the teacher, a college, a b t of honey, that person, those people,


whatever purpose, e ther way, your cho ce
Jump to
Somet mes these words w ll tell the reader or l stener whether we're Art cles
referr ng to a spec f c or general th ng (the garage out back; A horse! A horse!
My k ngdom for a horse!); somet mes they tell how much or how many (lots of trees, several
books, a great deal of confus on). The cho ce of the proper art cle or determ ner to precede a
noun or noun phrase s usually not a problem for wr ters who have grown up speak ng Engl sh,
nor s t a ser ous problem for non-nat ve wr ters whose f rst language s a romance language
such as Span sh. For other wr ters, though, th s can be a cons derable obstacle on the way to
the r mastery of Engl sh. In fact, some students from eastern European countr es where
the r nat ve language has e ther no art cles or an altogether d fferent system of choos ng
art cles and determ ners f nd that these "l ttle words" can create problems long after every
other aspect of Engl sh has been mastered.

Determ ners are sa d to "mark" nouns. That s to say, you know a determ ner w ll be
followed by a noun. Some categor es of determ ners are l m ted (there are only three art cles, a
handful of possess ve pronouns, etc.), but the possess ve nouns are as l m tless as nouns
themselves. Th s l m ted nature of most determ ner categor es, however, expla ns why
determ ners are grouped apart from adject ves even though both serve a mod fy ng funct on.
We can mag ne that the language w ll never t re of nvent ng new adject ves; the determ ners
(except for those possess ve nouns), on the other hand, are well establ shed, and th s class of
words s not go ng to grow n number. These categor es of determ ners are as follows: the
art cles (an, a, the see below; possess ve nouns (Joe's, the pr est's, my mother's); possess ve
pronouns, (h s, your, the r, whose, etc.); numbers (one, two, etc.); ndef n te pronouns (few,
more, each, every, e ther, all, both, some, any, etc.); and demonstrat ve pronouns. The
demonstrat ves (th s, that, these, those, such) are d scussed n the sect on on Demonstrat ve
Pronouns. Not ce that the possess ve nouns d ffer from the other determ ners n that they,
themselves, are often accompan ed by other determ ners: "my mother's rug," "the pr ests's
collar," "a dog's l fe."
Th s categor zat on of determ ners s based on Understand ng Engl sh Grammar by Martha Kolln. 4rth Ed t on.
MacM llan Publ sh ng Company: New York. 1994.

Some Notes on Quant f ers


L ke art cles, quant f ers are words that precede and mod fy nouns. They tell us how
many or how much. Select ng the correct quant f er depends on your understand ng the

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01.07.2017 Art cles, Determ ners, and Quant f ers

d st nct on between Count and Non-Count Nouns. For our purposes, we w ll choose the
count noun trees and the non-count noun danc ng:

The follow ng quant f ers w ll work w th count nouns:


many trees
a few trees
few trees
several trees
a couple of trees
none of the trees

The follow ng quant f ers w ll work w th non-count nouns:


not much danc ng
a l ttle danc ng
l ttle danc ng
a b t of danc ng
a good deal of danc ng
a great deal of danc ng
no danc ng

The follow ng quant f ers w ll work w th both count and non-count nouns:
all of the trees/danc ng
some trees/danc ng
most of the trees/danc ng
enough trees/danc ng
a lot of trees/danc ng
lots of trees/danc ng
plenty of trees/danc ng
a lack of trees/danc ng

In formal academ c wr t ng, t s usually better to use many and much rather than phrases such
as a lot of, lots of and plenty of.

There s an mportant d fference between "a l ttle" and "l ttle" (used w th non-count
words) and between "a few" and "few" (used w th count words). If I say that Tashonda has a
l ttle exper ence n management that means that although Tashonda s no great expert she does
have some exper ence and that exper ence m ght well be enough for our purposes. If I say that
Tashonda has l ttle exper ence n management that means that she doesn't have enough
exper ence. If I say that Charl e owns a few books on Lat n Amer can l terature that means that
he has some some books not a lot of books, but probably enough for our purposes. If I say
that Charl e owns few books on Lat n Amer can l terature, that means he doesn't have enough
for our purposes and we'd better go to the l brary.

Unless t s comb ned w th of, the quant f er "much" s reserved for quest ons and
negat ve statements:

Much of the snow has already melted.


How much snow fell yesterday?
Not much.

Note that the quant f er "most of the" must nclude the def n te art cle the when t
mod f es a spec f c noun, whether t's a count or a non-count noun: "most of the nstructors at
th s college have a doctorate"; "most of the water has evaporated." W th a general plural noun,
however (when you are not referr ng to a spec f c ent ty), the "of the" s dropped:
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Most colleges have the r own adm ss ons pol cy.


Most students apply to several colleges.
Author ty for th s last paragraph: The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Wr ters by Max ne Ha rston and John J.
Ruszk ew cz. 4th ed. HarperColl ns: New York. 1996. Examples our own.

An ndef n te art cle s somet mes used n conjunct on w th the quant f er many, thus
jo n ng a plural quant f er w th a s ngular noun (wh ch then takes a s ngular verb):

Many a young man has fallen n love w th her golden ha r.


Many an apple has fallen by October.

Th s construct on lends tself to a somewhat l terary effect (some would say a stuffy or archa c
effect) and s best used spar ngly, f at all.

Bas c Qu z on Choos ng

Quant f ers

Qu z on Quant f ers

Predeterm ners
The predeterm ners occur pr or to other determ ners (as you would probably guess from
the r name). Th s class of words ncludes mult pl ers (double, tw ce, four/f ve t mes . . . .);
fract onal express ons (one-th rd, three-quarters, etc.); the words both, half, and all; and
ntens f ers such as qu te, rather, and such.

The mult pl ers precede plural count and mass nouns and occur w th s ngular count nouns
denot ng number or amount:

Th s van holds three t mes the passengers as that sports car.


My w fe s mak ng double my / tw ce my salary.
Th s t me we added f ve t mes the amount of water.

In fract onal express ons, we have a s m lar construct on, but here t can be replaced w th
"of" construct on.

Charl e f n shed n one-fourth [of] the t me h s brother took.


Two-f fths of the respondents reported that half the med cat on was suff c ent.

The ntens f ers occur n th s construct on pr mar ly n casual speech and wr t ng and are
more common n Br t sh Engl sh than they are n Amer can Engl sh. The ntens f er "what" s
often found n styl st c fragments: "We v s ted my brother n h s dorm room. What a mess!"
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Th s room s rather a mess, sn't t?


The t cket-holders made qu te a fuss when they couldn't get n.
What an d ot he turned out to be.
Our vacat on was such a grand exper ence.

Half, both, and all can occur w th s ngular and plural count nouns; half and all can occur
w th mass nouns. There are also "of construct ons" w th these words ("all [of] the gra n," "half
[of] h s salary"); the "of construct on" s requ red w th personal pronouns ("both of them," "all
of t"). The follow ng chart (from Qu rk and Greenbaum) n cely descr bes the uses of these
three predeterm ners:

The Art cles

The three art cles a, an, the are a k nd of adject ve. The
s called the def n te art cle because t usually precedes a
spec f c or prev ously ment oned noun; a and an are called
ndef n te art cles because they are used to refer to
someth ng n a less spec f c manner (an unspec f ed count
noun). These words are also l sted among the noun markers
or determ ners because they are almost nvar ably followed
by a noun (or someth ng else act ng as a noun).

CAUTION! Even after you learn all the


pr nc ples beh nd the use of these art cles, you
w ll f nd an abundance of s tuat ons where
choos ng the correct art cle or choos ng
whether to use one or not w ll prove chancy. Icy h ghways
are dangerous. The cy h ghways are dangerous. And both
are correct.

The s used w th spec f c nouns. The s requ red when the noun t refers to represents
someth ng that s one of a k nd:

The moon c rcles the earth.

The s requ red when the noun t refers to represents someth ng n the abstract:

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The Un ted States has encouraged the use of the pr vate automob le as
opposed to the use of publ c trans t.

The s requ red when the noun t refers to represents someth ng named earl er n the text. (See
below..)

We use a before s ngular count-nouns that beg n w th consonants (a


If you
cow, a barn, a sheep); we use an before s ngular count-nouns that beg n
would l ke help
w th vowels or vowel-l ke sounds (an apple, an urban bl ght, an open w th the
door). Words that beg n w th an h sound often requ re an a (as n a horse, d st nct on
a h story book, a hotel), but f an h-word beg ns w th an actual vowel between count
sound, use an an (as n an hour, an honor). We would say a useful dev ce and non-count
and a un on matter because the u of those words actually sounds l ke yoo nouns, please
(as opposed, say, to the u of an ugly nc dent). The same s true of a refer to Count
European and a Euro (because of that consonantal "Yoo" sound). We and Non-Count
would say a once- n-a-l fet me exper ence or a one-t me hero because the Nouns.
words once and one beg n w th a w sound (as f they were spelled wuntz
and won).

Merr am-Webster's D ct onary says that we can use an before an h- word that beg ns w th
an unstressed syllable. Thus, we m ght say an h sTOR cal moment, but we would say a
HIStory book. Many wr ters would call that an affectat on and prefer that we say a h stor cal,
but apparently, th s cho ce s a matter of personal taste.

For help on us ng art cles w th abbrev at ons and acronyms (a or an FBI agent?), see the
sect on on Abbrev at ons.

F rst and subsequent reference: When we f rst refer to someth ng n wr tten text, we
often use an ndef n te art cle to mod fy t.

A newspaper has an obl gat on to seek out and tell the truth.

In a subsequent reference to th s newspaper, however, we w ll use the def n te art cle:

There are s tuat ons, however, when the newspaper must determ ne whether
the publ c's safety s jeopard zed by know ng the truth.

Another example:
"I'd l ke a glass of orange ju ce, please," John sa d.
"I put the glass of ju ce on the counter already," She la repl ed.

Except on:
When a mod f er appears between the art cle and the noun, the subsequent art cle w ll cont nue
to be ndef n te:
"I'd l ke a b g glass of orange ju ce, please," John sa d.
"I put a b g glass of ju ce on the counter already," She la repl ed.

Gener c reference: We can refer to someth ng n a gener c way by us ng any


of the three art cles. We can do the same th ng by om tt ng the art cle altogether.

A beagle makes a great hunt ng dog and fam ly compan on.


An a redale s somet mes a rather sk tt sh an mal.
The golden retr ever s a marvelous pet for ch ldren.
Ir sh setters are not the h ghly ntell gent an mals they used to be.

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The d fference between the gener c ndef n te pronoun and the normal ndef n te pronoun s
that the latter refers to any of that class ("I want to buy a beagle, and any old beagle w ll do.")
whereas the former (see beagle sentence) refers to all members of that class.

Proper nouns: We use the def n te art cle w th certa n k nds of proper nouns:

Geograph cal places: the Sound, the Sea of Japan, the M ss ss pp , the West, the
Smok es, the Sahara (but often not when the ma n part of the proper noun seems to
be mod f ed by an earl er attr but ve noun or adject ve: We went sw mm ng at the
Ocean Park)
Plural zed names (geograph c, fam ly, teams): the Netherlands, the Bahamas, the
Hamptons, the Johnsons, the New England Patr ots
Publ c nst tut ons/fac l t es/groups: the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Sheraton, the
House, the Presbyter an Church
Newspapers: the Hartford Courant, the T mes
Nouns followed by a prepos t onal phrase beg nn ng w th "of": the leader of the
gang, the pres dent of our club

Abstract nouns: Abstract nounsthe names of th ngs that are not tang bleare
somet mes used w th art cles, somet mes not:

The storm upset my peace of m nd. He was m ss ng just one th ng: peace of m nd.
Injust ce was w despread w th n the jud c al system tself. He mplored the judge to
correct the njust ce.
Her body was racked w th gr ef. It was a gr ef he had never felt before.

Zero art cles: Several k nds of nouns never use art cles. We do not use art cles w th the
names of languages ("He was learn ng Ch nese." [But when the word Ch nese refers to the
people, the def n te art cle m ght come nto play: "The Ch nese are hop ng to get the next
Olymp cs."]), the names of sports ("She plays badm nton and basketball."), and academ c
subjects ("She's tak ng econom cs and math. Her major s Rel g ous Stud es.")

When they are gener c, non-count nouns and somet mes plural count-nouns are used
w thout art cles. "We l ke w ne w th our d nner. We adore Baroque mus c. We use roses for
many purposes." But f an "of phrase" comes after the noun, we use an art cle: "We adore the
mus c of the Baroque." Also, when a gener c noun s used w thout an art cle and then referred
to n a subsequent reference, t w ll have become spec f c and w ll requ re a def n te art cle:
"The Data Center nstalled computers n the Learn ng Center th s summer. The computers,
unfortunately, don't work."

Common count nouns are used w thout art cles n certa n spec al s tuat ons:

d omat c
express ons We'll go by tra n. (as opposed to "We'll take the tra n.)
us ng be and He must be n school.
go

w th seasons In spr ng, we l ke to clean the house.

w th
He's n church/college/ja l/class.
nst tut ons

Breakfast was del c ous.


w th meals
He's prepar ng d nner by h mself.

w th d seases He's dy ng of pneumon a.


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Append c t s nearly k lled h m.


She has cancer
(You w ll somet mes hear "the measles," "the mumps," but these,
too, can go w thout art cles.)

w th t me of We traveled mostly by n ght.


day We'll be there around m dn ght.

Pr nc ples of Choos ng an Art cle


Choos ng art cles and determ ners: Br efly def ned, a determ ner s a noun-marker:
when you see one, you know that what follows s a noun or noun phrase. There s a l st of
such words n the table below. When you place your mouse-cursor over a word or pa r of
related words (such as e ther/ne ther), you w ll see n the r ght-hand frame an mage descr b ng
the k nds of words that word can mod fy.

Zero art cle (see table below) means e ther that no art cle would be appropr ate w th that k nd
of noun or that that k nd of noun can be used ( n that context) w thout an art cle.

If you would l ke to see these mages l sted on one page, cl ck HERE.

Not ce that there s a d fference between a "stressed" some or any and an "unstressed"
some or any. Cons der the words n ALL CAPS as shouted words and you w ll hear the
d fference between these two:

That s SOME car you've got there!


I don't want to hear ANY excuse!

As opposed to. . .

We have some cars left n the lot.


Isn't there any furn ture n the l v ng room?

In terms of the words they usually mod fy, the unstressed some and any do not mod fy s ngular
count nouns.

Qu z on A, An, and The

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01.07.2017 Art cles, Determ ners, and Quant f ers

Qu z on Art cles and Determ ners

An excellent text for an n-depth study of art cles s A Un vers ty Grammar of Engl sh by Randolph Qu rk and
S dney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used w th perm ss on. Another good resource,
espec ally for students for whom Engl sh s a second language, s Qu ck Access: Reference for Wr ters by Lynn
Qu tman Troyka. S mon & Schuster: New York. 1995. Used w th perm ss on.

Another place to d scover more about the use of art cles s at Purdue Un vers ty's Onl ne Wr t ng Lab (OWL). See,
also, the Un vers ty of Toronto's Rules for Us ng the Word The and Rensselaer's handout on Art cle Usage. The
onl ne journal for Teachers of Engl sh as a Second Language has several qu zzes on art cle usage. Students should
be forewarned, however, that the best way to address th s problem ( f t s one) s to mmerse oneself n the use of
Engl sh, pay ng part cular attent on to these "l ttle words."

Gu de to Grammar Pr nc ples of
Index
and Wr t ng Compos t on

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development, and curr culum nnovat on. I If you feel we have prov ded someth ng of
value and w sh to show your apprec at on, you can ass st the College and ts students
w th a tax-deduct ble contr but on.

For more about g v ng to Cap tal, wr te to CCC Foundat on, 950 Ma n Street, Hartford,
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