Product Code Database
English determiners (also known as determinatives)
(2026). 9780521431460, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521431460 are – such as the, a, each, some, which, this, and numerals such as five – that are most commonly used with to specify their . The form a closed lexical category in English language. (2026). 9780199675128, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199675128
The syntactic role characteristically performed by determiners is known as the determinative function (see ). A determinative combines with a noun (or, more formally, a nominal; see ) to form a noun phrase (NP). This function typically comes before any modifiers in the NP (e.g., some very pretty wool sweaters, not *very pretty some wool sweaters). The determinative function is typically obligatory in a singular, countable, common noun phrase (compare I have a new cat to * I have new cat).
Semantically, determiners are usually Definiteness (e.g., the cat versus a cat), and they often agree with the number of the head noun (e.g., a new cat but not * many new cat). Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect.
The most common of these are the definite and indefinite English articles, the and a( n). Other determiners in English include the demonstratives this and that, and the quantifiers (e.g., many, and none) as well as the numerals. Determiners also occasionally function as modifiers in noun phrases (e.g., the many changes), determiner phrases (e.g., many more) or in Adjective phrase or Adverbial phrase (e.g., not that big). They may appear on their own without a noun, similar to (e.g., I'll have some), but they are distinct from pronouns.
Some sources, e.g. Cambridge Dictionary, Longman Dictionary, Collins Dictionary, and Collins COBUILD English grammar distinguish between predeterminers and determiners. Following this distinction, determiners can't be used directly next to each other (not: the my or my the). However, it is possible to put a predeterminer before a determiner (e.g. all the). (1990). 9780003750256, Collins. ISBN 9780003750256
Some sources, such as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, use determiner as a term for a category as defined above and determinative for the function that determiners and possessives typically perform in a noun phrase (see ). Others, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language ( CGEL), make the opposite terminological choice. And still others (e.g., The Grammar Book (2026). 9781111351861, National Geographic Learning/Heinle Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781111351861) use determiner for both the category and the function. This article uses determiner for the category and determinative for the function in the noun phrase.
The lexical category determiner is the class of words described in this article. They head determiner phrases, which can realize the functions determinative, predeterminative, and modifier:
The syntactic function determinative is a function that specifies a noun phrase. That is, determinatives add abstract meanings to the noun phrase, such as definiteness, proximity, number, and the like. While the determinative function is typically realized by determiner phrases, they may also be realized by noun phrases and prepositional phrases:
This article is about determiners as a lexical category.
In 1892, prior to the emergence of the determiner category in English grammars, Leon Kellner, and later Jespersen, discussed the idea of "determination" of a noun:
In Old English the possessive pronoun, or, as the French say, "pronominal adjective," expresses only the conception of belonging and possession; it is a real adjective, and does not convey, as at present, the idea of determination. If, therefore, Old English authors want to make nouns preceded by possessive pronouns determinative, they add the definite article.
By 1924, Harold Palmer had proposed a part of speech called "Pronouns and Determinatives", effectively "grouping with the pronouns all determinative adjectives (e.g., article-like, demonstratives, possessives, numerals, etc.), and shortening the term to determinatives (the "déterminatifs" of the French grammarians)." Palmer separated this category from more prototypical adjectives (what he calls "qualificative adjectives") because, unlike prototypical adjectives, words in this category are not used predicatively, tend not to inflect for comparison, and tend not to be modified.
In 1933, Leonard Bloomfield introduced the term determiner used in this article, which appears to define a syntactic function performed by "limiting adjectives".
Our limiting adjectives fall into two sub-classes of determiners and numeratives … The determiners are defined by the fact that certain types of noun expressions (such as house or big house) are always accompanied by a determiner (as, this house, a big house).
Matthews argues that the next important contribution was by Ralph B. Long in 1961, though Matthews notes that Long's contribution is largely ignored in the bibliographies of later prominent grammars, including A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and CGEL. Matthews illustrates Long's analysis with the noun phrase this boy: " this is no longer, in Long's account, an adjective. It is instead a pronoun, of a class he called ‘determinative’, and it has the function of a ‘determinative modifier’." This analysis was developed in a 1962 grammar by Barbara M. H. Strang and in 1972 by Randolph Quirk and colleagues. In 1985, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language appears to have been the first work to explicitly conceive of determiner as a distinct lexical category.
| +A comparison of the structure of a box under the competing analyses |
The key difference between adjectives and determiners in English is that adjectives cannot function as determinatives. The determinative function is an element in NPs that is obligatory in most singular countable NPs and typically occurs before any modifiers (see ). For example, *I live in small house is ungrammatical because small house is a singular countable NP lacking a determinative. The adjective small is a modifier, not a determinative. In contrast, if the adjective is replaced or preceded by a possessive NP ( I live in my house) or a determiner ( I live in that house), then it becomes grammatical because possessive NPs and determiners function as determinatives.
There are a variety of other differences between the categories. Determiners appear in partitive constructions, while adjectives do not (e.g., some of the people but not *happy of the people). Adjectives can function as a predicative complement in a verb phrase (e.g., that was lovely), but determiners typically cannot (e.g., *that was every). Adjectives are not typically definite or indefinite, while determiners are. Adjectives as modifiers in a noun phrase do not need to agree in number with a head noun (e.g., old book, old books) while some determiners do (e.g., this book, these books). Morphologically, adjectives often inflect for grade (e.g., big, bigger, biggest), while few determiners do. Finally, adjectives can typically form adverbs by adding -ly (e.g., cheap → cheaply), while determiners cannot.
The boundary between determiner and adjective is not always clear, however. In the case of the word many, for example, the distinction between determiner and adjective is fuzzy, and different linguists and grammarians have placed this term into different categories. The CGEL categorizes many as a determiner because it can appear in partitive constructions, as in many of them. Alternatively, Bas Aarts offers three reasons to support the analysis of many as an adjective. First, it can be modified by very (as in his very many sins), which is a characteristic typical of certain adjectives but not of determiners. Second, it can occur as a predicative complement: his sins are many. Third, many has a comparative and superlative form ( more and most, respectively).
The main reason for classifying these possessive words as determiners is that, like determiners, they usually function as determinative in an NP (e.g., my / the cat). Reasons for calling them English pronouns and not determiners include that the pronouns typically inflect (e.g., I, me, my, mine, myself), while determiners typically allow no morphological change. Determiners also appear in partitive constructions, while pronouns do not (e.g., some of the people but not *my of the people). Also, some determiners can be modified by adverbs (e.g., very many), but this is not possible for pronouns.
On the other hand, these words can show case contrast (e.g., us teachers), a feature that, in Modern English, is typical of pronouns but not of determiners. Thus, Evelyne Delorme and Ray C. Dougherty treat words like us as pronouns in apposition with the noun phrases that follow them, an analysis that Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage also follows.Anon. (1994). "Pronouns." In Gilman, Ward E. (ed.). Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. pp. 777–779. Richard Hudson and Mariangela Spinillo also categorize these words as pronouns but without assuming an appositive relationship between the pronoun and the rest of the noun phrase.
On the other hand, Aarts categorizes this word as a determiner, a categorization also used in CGEL. This analysis can be supported by expanding the determiner phrase: it is not all that unusual. All can function as a premodifier of determiners (e.g., all that cake) but not adjectives (e.g., * all unusual), which leads Aarts to suggest that that is a determiner.
For the sake of this section, Abney's DP hypothesis (see ) is set aside. In other words, here a DP is taken to be a dependent in a noun phrase (NP) and not the other way around.
A determinative is a function only in noun phrases. It is usually the leftmost constituent in the phrase, appearing before any modifiers. A noun phrase may have many modifiers, but only one determinative is possible. In most cases, a singular, countable, common noun requires a determinative to form a noun phrase; plurals and uncountables do not. The determinative is underlined in the following examples:
Predeterminatives are typically realized by determiner phrases (e.g., all in all the time). However, they can also be realized by noun phrases (e.g., one-fifth the size) and adverb phrases ( e.g., thrice the rate).
Determiner phrases can also function as post-head modifiers in these phrases. For example, the determiners each, enough, less, and more can function as post-head modifiers of noun phrases, as in the determiner phrase each in two seats each. Enough can fill the same role in adjective phrases (e.g., clear enough) and in adverb phrases (e.g., funnily enough).
DPs also function as modifiers in DPs (e.g., not people).
The cardinal numbers greater than 99 are also compound determiners. This group also includes a few and a little, and Payne, Huddleston, and Pullum argue that once, twice, and thrice also belong here, and not in the adverb category.
| +The inflectional paradigms of degree determiners !Plain !Comparative !Superlative | ||
| few | fewer | fewest |
| little | less | least |
| many | more | most |
| much |
The secondary divisions are based on the semantic contributions of the determiner to a noun phrase. The subclasses are named according to the labels assigned in CGEL and the Oxford Modern English Grammar, which use essentially the same labels.
| proximal | this | these |
| distal | that | those |
CGEL classifies the archaic and dialectal yonder (as in the noun phrase yonder hills) as a marginal demonstrative determiner. Yonder signals that the thing referenced by the noun is far from the speaker, typically farther than what that would signal. Thus, we would expect yonder hills to be farther from the speaker than those hills. Unlike the main demonstrative determiners, yonder does not inflect for number (compare yonder hill).
The distributive determiners mark noun phrases as indefinite.Spinillo, Mariangela Galvão (2004). Reconceptualising the English Determiner Class. (PhD). University College London. p. 64. They also add distributive meaning; that is, "they pick out the members of a set singly, rather than considering them in mass." Because they signal this distributive meaning, these determiners select singular noun heads when functioning as determinatives in noun phrases (e.g., each student).
Existential determiners mark a noun phrase as indefinite. They also convey existential quantification, meaning that they assert the existence of a thing in a quantity greater than zero.
Disjunctive determiners mark a noun phrase as definite. They also imply a single selection from a set of exactly two. Because they signal a single selection, disjunctive determiners select singular nouns when functioning as determinatives in noun phrases (e.g., either side). A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language does not recognize this category and instead label either an "assertive determiner" and neither a "negative determiner."
No signifies that not one member of a set or sub-quantity of a quantity under consideration has a particular property. Neither also conveys this kind of meaning but is only used when selecting from a set of exactly two, which is why neither is typically classified as disjunctive rather than negative.
These determiners convey inexact quantification that is framed in terms of some minimum quantity needed. For instance, enough money for a taxi implies that a minimum amount of money is necessary to pay for a taxi and that the amount of money in question is sufficient for the purpose. When functioning as determinatives in a noun phrase, sufficiency determiners select plural count nouns (e.g., sufficient reasons) or non-count nouns (e.g., enough money).
These determiners can also be followed by - ever. Relative determiners typically function as determiners in noun phrases that introduce , as in we can use whatever/whichever edition you want.
Though these words are normally pronouns, in phrases like we teachers and you guys, they are sometimes classified as personal determiners. Personal determiners mark a noun phrase as definite. They also add meaning related to personal deixis; that is, they indicate whether the thing referenced by the noun includes the speaker ( we/us) or at least one addressee and not the speaker ( you). In some dialects such as the Ozark dialect, this usage extends to them as in them folks.
Universal determiners convey universal quantification, meaning that they assert that no subset of a thing exists that lacks the property that is described. For example, saying "all the vegetables are ripe" is the same as saying "no vegetables are not ripe." The primary difference between all and both is that both applies only to sets with exactly two members while all lacks this limitation. But CGEL notes that because of the possibility of using both instead, all "generally strongly implicature 'more than two.'"
Cardinal numerals are typically thought to express the exact number of the things represented by the noun, but this exactness is through implicature rather than necessity. In the clause five people complained, for example, the number of people complaining is usually thought to be exactly five. But technically, the proposition would still be true if additional people were complaining as well: if seven people were complaining, then it is also necessarily true that five people were complaining. General norms of cooperative conversation, however, make it such that cardinal numerals typically express the exact number (e.g., five = no more and no less than five) unless otherwise modified (e.g., at least five or at most five).
The positive paucal determiners convey a small, imprecise quantity—generally characterized as greater than two but smaller than whatever quantity is considered large. When functioning as determinatives in a noun phrase, most paucal determiners select plural count nouns (e.g., a few mistakes), but a little selects non-count nouns (e.g., a little money).
Degree determiners mark a noun phrase as indefinite. They also convey imprecise quantification, with many and much expressing a large quantity and few and little expressing a small quantity. Degree determiners are unusual in that they inflect for grade, a feature typical of adjectives and adverbs but not determiners. The comparative forms of few, little, many, and much are fewer, less, more, and more respectively. The superlative forms are fewest, least, most, and most respectively. The plain forms can be modified with adverbs, especially very, too and so (and not can also be added). Note that unmodified much is quite rarely used in affirmative statements in colloquial English.
The majority of determiners, however, are indefinite. These include the indefinite article a, but also most quantifiers, including the cardinal numerals.
|
|
