Determiners

DETERMINERS

Nouns are often preceded by the words the, a, or an. These words are called DETERMINERS. They indicate the kind of reference which the noun has. The determiner the, is known as the DEFINITE ARTICLE. It is used before both singular and plural nouns: 

   

Singular	Plural
the taxi	the taxis
the paper	the papers
the apple	the apples

  The determiner a (or an, when the following noun begins with a vowel) is the INDEFINITE ARTICLE. It is used when the noun is singular: 
  a taxi 
a paper 
an apple

The articles the, and a/an, are the most common determiners, but there are many others: 
  any taxi 
that question 
those apples 
this paper 
some apple 
whatever taxi 
whichever taxi

Many determiners express quantity: 
  all examples 
both parents 
many people 
each person 
every night 
several computers 
few excuses 
enough water 
no escape

Perhaps the most common way to express quantity is to use a numeral. We look at numerals as determiners in the next section. 

   Numerals and Determiners

Numerals are determiners when they appear before a noun. In this position, cardinal numerals express quantity: 
 

one book 
two books 
twenty books

In the same position, ordinal numerals express sequence: 
  first impressions 
second chance 
third prize

The subclass of ordinals includes a set of words which are not directly related to numbers (as first is related to one, second is related to two, etc). These are called general ordinals, and they include last, latter, next, previous, and subsequent. These words also function as determiners: 
  next week 
last orders 
previous engagement 
subsequent developments

 When they do not come before a noun, as we've already seen, numerals are a subclass of nouns. And like nouns, they can take determiners: 
  the two of us 
the first of many

They can even have numerals as determiners before them: 
  five twos are ten

In this example, twos is a plural noun and it has the determiner five before it.