Different Types of Determiners

Determiner is a grammatical form and a type of noun modifier that precedes and followed by the noun. In simple words, it is used in a sentence to give additional information about the noun. These are used before a noun or a noun phrase so as to point out a specific thing, object, place or a person. The role of determiners is to express reference. In other words, determiners clarify what a noun is referring to. For example, He saw the actress (Here, ‘the actress’ means a particular actress) or His father is a doctor (Here, ‘a doctor’ refers to a particular person).  Let us understand different types of determiners in detail.

1.  Articles:  Articles are the most popular determiners. A, an and the are the articles that are used in a sentence to specify a noun. ‘A’ and ‘an’ are indefinite articles as they indicate a group of noun in the sentence. ‘The’ is a definite article that specifies a particular noun in the sentence.

For example:

• The statue of liberty is the symbol of freedom.

• He is an artist.

• She has a famous writer.

2.  Quantifiers: The quantifiers are used to define the quantity like a little, a few, more, most, much, enough, many, much, any, etc.

For example:

• I have enough chocolates.

• He has many friends.

3.  Possessives: Possessives are one form of determiners that shows ownership or possession of a noun. My, our, his, her or there are possessive determiners.

For example:

• This is my dress.

• His mobile phone is very expensive.

4.  Demonstratives: These determiners describe the location and position of a noun from the speaker’s point of view. These, that, this and those are demonstrative determiners.

For example:

• This car is mine.

• These books are good for test preparation.

5.  Interrogatives: Interrogative determiners are used in the sentence for asking questions. Whose, what and which are interrogative determiners.

For example:

• Which fruit do you like the most?

• What would you like to have for dinner?