. What Is a Determiner?

– Meaning and Definition

A determiner is a word that is used to modify or introduce the
noun in a sentence. It mostly acts like an adjective in that it refers
to the noun.
A determiner need not always be in the beginning of a sentence; it
can be used with nouns placed anywhere in the sentence.

Type Examples

Pre- All, all of, half, half of, both, double,

determiners twice, rather, such, what, etc.

Articles A, An, The

Demonstratives This, that, those, these

Possessives My, your, our her, mine, their, etc.

Ordinals First, second, last, Next, etc.

Cardinals One, Four, hundred, etc.

Quantifiers Much, many, Some, Little, any, Enough, etc.

Distributives Each, Every, Either, neither

Interrogatives what, who, whose, where, why, etc.

Pre-determiners

Pre-determiners
Pre-determiners
Pre-determiners

Articles

Given below are some rules for the use of articles:

1. We use a before a singular countable noun beginning with a
consonant sound.
Examples: a girl, a sofa, a spoon, a cow

2. We use an before a singular countable noun that begins with a

vowel or a modifier that begins with a vowel sound.
Examples: an apple, an umbrella, an extra chair

3. We use a before ‘u’ that is pronounced as you, ‘o’ that is

pronounced as wu, and “eu’ that is pronounced as y, and an before
an unsounded ‘h’.
Examples: a one-eyed man, a European, a union, an hour

4. We use a or an when a noun is used for the first time in a text.

When the same noun is used for the second time we use the.
Example: A man was walking down a street with a dog. The dog
ran after a cat.

5. We use a or an when the noun doesn’t refer to any particular

species or to any particular thing.
Example: I saw an elephant carrying logs of wood in its trunk.

6. We use a or an when we wish to express surprise, joy, horror,

disgust, etc.
Examples: What a wonderful day!
• What an extraordinary thing to happen!

• What a silly fellow!

7. We use a or an in phrases that express speed, quantity, etc.

Examples:
• Petrol is almost seventy rupees a litre.

• We were travelling at eighty kilometres an hour.

8. We use a before some numbers.

Examples:
• a couple of …

• a few …

• a hundred

‘The’ is used before :-

1 Superlative The longest, the smallest, the most beautiful, the

Degree worst,
2 Ranges of The Himalayas, The Alps, The Vindhyas, The
Mountains Eastern Ghats,
3 But not with Mount Everest, Mount Abu, Nanda Devi,
Kanchan Janga, Dhaula Giri
4 Rivers The Ganga, The Thames, The Nile, The
Godavari, The Brahmaputra,
5 Gulfs The Bay of Bengal, The Gulf of Mexico, The
Persian Gulf,
6 Seas The Red Sea, The Arabian Sea, The Black Sea,
7 Oceans The Pacific Ocean, The Indian Ocean, The
Atlantic Ocean,
8 Great Books The Ramayana, The Mahabharat, The Gita, The
Bible, The Quran,
9 Planets & The Sun, The Moon, The Earth, The Sky,
Heavenly
Bodies
10 Musical The table, The harmonium, The violin, The
Instruments guitar,
11 Newspaper The Hindu, The Times of India, The Hitvada,
12 Historical The Taj Mahal, The Red Fort, The Qutub Minar,
Building
13 Religious The Hindus, The Muslims, The Christian, The
Community Parsi,
14 Political Party The Bhartiya Janta Party, The Congress, The
Communist Party,
15 Nationality The Indians, The Africans, The Chinese, The
Americans, The Asians,
16 Aeroplanes The Meghdoot, The Vayudoot,
17 Ships The Victoria, The Vikrant, The Titanic,
18 Trains The Rajdhani Express, The Chennai Express, The
Punjab Mail,
19 Dynasty The Chola Dynasty, The Nanda Dynasty, The
Mauryan Dynasty,
20 Historical The French Revolution, The Civil war, The
Event Industrial Revolution,
21 Directions The East, The West, The North-East
22 Seasons The Winter, The Spring, The Autumn,
23 Canals The Suez Canal, The Panama Canal, The Sharda
Canal,
24 Deserts The Sahara Desert, The Thar Desert,
25 Dates of a The 2nd of October, The 25th of February,
Month
23 Titles The President, The Chairman, The Headmaster,
The Principal,
24 Adjective used The rich, The poor, The needy,
as Noun
25 Weight / The litre, The meter, The dozen,
Measures

Demonstratives
• The words that are used to talk about persons or
things that have already been mentioned are
referred to as demonstratives.
• These include this, these, that, those.
• Somu bought this stationery.
• These cats are cute.
• Those puppies are adorable.
• I met my manager this week.

Possessives
• These words are used to show the possession of an
object by the subject.
• These include my, mine, hers, his our, your, his, her, its,
and their.
• He is my friend.
• She is my teacher.
• Ram is our boss.
• This is her pet.
• They love their family.

Ordinals
• The words that show the positions in a series are called
ordinals.
• These include, first, second, next, and last.
• I’ll call you next.
• You’ve secured the first position in the competition.
• He sits on the last bench.
• She was the first person who came to my rescue.

Cardinals
• Cardinals show the number. These are ordinary
numbers like one, two, or three.
• There were only five girls.
• The library has around a thousand books.
• The museum has a fossil that is five thousand years
old.
• He has ten collections.
• She lived in this house for twenty years.

Quantifiers
• The words that refer to the number of things or
amount of something are called quantifiers.

• These include much, some, several, a lot of, both, and

all.
 • Some people were waiting for you.
• He has enough of his pet.
• She drank a lot of beet juice.
• There was sufficient food for all people.
•

Distributives
each, every, either, neither.
• The words that refer to every single member
of a group are called distributive determiners.
• These include each, every, neither, either.
• He interacted with each student.
• I agree with every word of my friend.
• Each complaint will be addressed.
• Either of the parents has to attend the meeting.
• Neither of the answers is correct.

Interrogative
• The words used for asking questions are called
interrogative determiners.
• These include what, which, and whose.
• Whose pen is this?
• Which is your sandal?
• What colour is your purse?
• Which book are you studying?
• Whose bag is this?
Exercises
Choose the correct determiners for the following
sentences:
1. What _____ beautiful flower! (a/ the)
2. Aditi wants me to lend her ________ car. (that/ my/ her)
3. Neeraj is _______ doctor. (a/ an/ the)
4. I need to buy _______ new furniture for my apartment. (any/some)
5. My uncle is _____ richest man in the town. (a/ the)
6. Mount Everest is _________ highest peak in _________ Himalayas. (a/ an/
the)
7. ______ clothes made in our factory are very cheap. (a/ the)
8. We heard _____ noise. _____ noise came from a neighbour’s house. (a/ an/
the)
9. Can you bring me _______ water when you come back? (some/ any)
10.The inquiry officer asks about the incident _____ happened yesterday. (that/
which)
11.Who is ________ fellow? (that/ those)
12.Ravi is _______ best singer in the school. (an/ the)
13.This car can be driven at ________ speed of 180 kilometres ________ hour.
(a/ an/ the)
14.The gardener waters ________ plants every day. (his/ their)
15.The dog licked its paw. (his/ its)
16.I need ___________ help with my homework. (any/ some)
17.We invited ______ colleagues over to our house for ____ barbecue party. (a
few/few; a/an/the)
18.I used to live in ____ house. (this/that/these)
19.Is there _______ way we can get to the airport faster? (any/ some)
20.Our teacher didn’t give us ___________ homework yesterday. (some/ any)
21._____ qualifications do you have? (whose/ what/ which)
22._____ is your residential address? (which/ where/ what)
23.She is wearing a beautiful ring on _____ finger. (her/ their)
24.Can I get ___ hot bowl of soup? (a/ an)
25.He went to the shopping mall with_______ younger sisters. (his both/ both
his/ two his)
 26.Could you please bring me ______ books I left in _____ garden? (these/
those; the/ a/ an)
27.Thomas read ___________ interesting books last month. (any/ some)
28.The book belongs to ___. (her/ hers)
29.I’m tired. Do we have ___________ time to take a nap? (any/ some)
30.He turned on ______ television. (the/ an)

Fill in the blanks with appropriate determiners:

1. Have you visited _______ foreign countries recently?
2. The book on the table belongs to _____ library.
3. ____ dog is ___ faithful animal.
4. ____ rich should help ____ poor.
5. I have got _____ cold.
6. Most of ______ students were absent from ______ class.
7. ______ tiger is _____ fierce animal.
8. Although he’s very ill, he didn’t take _______ medicine.
9. How _______ time do you need to finish the work?
10.Honesty is ______ best policy.
11.Kalidas is ________ Shakespeare of India.
12.Sri Lanka is to ________ South of India.
13.Where is ________ pen I bought last week ?
14.I saw _______ nest of ______ owl on ______ tree.
15.Please open _______ window.
16.Open _______ book and read ________ passage.
17.June is _______ hottest month of _______ year.
18.I shall be back in _______ hour.
19.Can _______ blind see ?
20.What is ______ matter ?

Find out the error or determiners in the sentences given

below and correct them:
1. He is a boy who helps me in need.
2. Everyone takes little time to settle down at a new place.
 3. I am going to post office. It is near the central park.
4. Sara wrote much of her poems when she was young.
5. That is beautiful house.
Answers:
1. He is the boy who helps me in need.
2. Everyone takes a little time to settle down at a new place.
3. I am going to the post office. It is near the central park.
4. Sara wrote many of her poems when she was young.
5. That is a beautiful house.

Exercise – 1 Put a/an/the wherever necessary.

1. Have you seen Agra Fort.
2. More you read, more you know.
3. He will take a hour to finish this work.
4. His father is a M.P.
5. The gold is a precious metal.
6. French defeated Germans.
7. Gandhiji was greatest man of his time.
8. It is a best book.
9. The man is a social animal.
10. He is suffering from the malaria.

Answers
1. Have you seen the Agra Fort?
2. The More you read, the more you know.
3. He will take an hour to finish this work.
4. His father is an M.P.
5. (No article)Gold is a precious metal.
6. The French defeated the Germans.
7. Gandhiji was the greatest man of his time.
8. It is the best book.
9. (No article)Man is a social animal.
10. He is suffering from (no article) malaria.
Exercise – 2
1. Ramayan is a holy book of Hindus.
2. We should help poor.
 3. Bombay is Manchester of India.
4. He seems to be an European.
5. Mohan gave me an useful book.
6. He is a honourable man.
7. Sun gives us light and life.
8. Cold on Himalayas is terrible.
9. Ganga is a mighty river.
10. Gomati is a small river.
Answers
1. The Ramayana is a holy book of Hindus.
2. We should help the poor.
3. Bombay is the Manchester of India.
4. He seems to be a European.
5. Mohan gave me a useful book.
6. He is an honorable man.
7. The Sun gives us light and life.
8. Cold on the Himalayas is terrible.
9. The Ganga is a mighty river.
10. The Gomati is a small river.

Exercise 3. Put a/an/the wherever necessary.

1. She is………… MSc in chemistry.
2. I am going to………….
3. ……… Gomati is a famous river.
4. Rashmi is…………. unique girl.
5. I know how to play…………
6. ………..life in the army not so easy though it is full of
pride and prestige.
7. She was not in…………. mood of cutting jokes.
8. This is…………….. honour for me.
9. One cannot compare …………. orange with … apple.
10. Each of them is…………. unique fruit.
Answer:
 1. An 2. The 3. The
4. a 5. The 6. The
7. a 8. An 9. an, an
10. a

Exercise 4
Fill the given blanks with a, an or the –
1-2. We have ……………… beautiful
garden. ……………… garden is full of roses.
3-4. Is fencing ………………
popular sport in ……………… world? No, it isn’t.
5. I'd like ……………… glass of orange juice please.
6. Can you give me ……………… envelope, please?
7. Certainly. Oh! Where’s ……………… envelope?
8. Is there ……………… post office near here?
9. They’re at ……………… cinema.
10. My brother is in ……………… classroom.
11. Would you like ……………… hamburger?
12. Selena has got ……………… cat.
13. What is ……………… cat’s name?
14. ……………… school is very cold. Hasn’t it
got ……………… central heating system?
15. It has, but ……………… central heating is broken down.

Answers
1-2. We have ………a……… beautiful
garden. ………The……… garden is full of roses.
3-4. Is fencing …………a…… popular sport
in ……the………… world? No, it isn’t.
5. I'd like …………a…… glass of orange juice please.
6. Can you give me …………an…… envelope, please?
7. Certainly. Oh! Where’s ………the……… envelope?
8. Is there …………a…… post office near here?
9. They’re at …………the…… cinema.
10. My brother is in ……the………… classroom.
11. Would you like ……a………… hamburger?
12. Selena has got ……a………… cat.
13. What is ………the……… cat’s name?
14. …………The…… school is very cold. Hasn’t it
got …………a…… central heating system?
15. It has, but …………the…… central heating is broken
down.
Exercise 5

1. I want to ask………….. question now.

2. It is………. nice day today.
3. Mohini works in ………
4. …… man was crossing the road.
5. She works in………
6. There is……. huge statue of Rani Lakshmibai at the
square.
7. Yours is…… inspiring story.
8. Where is…….. statue of Liberty situated?
9. He belongs to ………… different school of thought.
10. Do you know where………. library is?
Answer: 1. A 2. A 3. An 4. A 5. A
6. a 7. An 8. The 9. A
10. The

Exercise – 6 Fill the blanks with some or any.

1. Is there _______ milk left?

2. There is _______ juice in the bottle.

3. Do you have _______ coffee?

4. I don't have _______ money left.

5. She has _______ money.

6. Do you know _______ of these singers?
7. I don't know _______ of them.

8. I know _______ of them.

9. We need _________________ bananas.

10. You can't buy _________________ posters in this shop.

11. We haven't got _________________ oranges at the
moment.
12. Peter has bought _________________ new books.

13. She always takes _________________ sugar with her

coffee.
14. I have seen _________________ nice postcards in this
souvenir shop.
15. There aren't _________________ folders in my bag.

16. I have _________________ magazines for you.

17. There are _________________ apples on the table.

18. Pam does not have _________________ pencils on her

desk.
19. I need _______________ information about the city.

20. 2I always have ____________ eggs for breakfast.