来自English Grammar Today
Determiners are words such as the, my, this, some, twenty, each, any, which are used before nouns:
the countryside
some paper
this old sofa
my father
five green chairs
each person
Determiners include the following common types:
Articles: a/an, the
Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
Possessives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, x’s (possessive ’s)
Quantifiers: (a) few, fewer, (a) little, many, much, more, most, some, any, etc.
Numbers: one, two, three, etc.
Here is a list of the determiners included in this book. Many of them have individual entries:
(a) few, fewer, fewest
every
most
that
(a) little
half
much
the
(an)other
her
my
their
a/an
his
neither
these
all
its
no
this
any
Jim’s, Anna’s, etc.
one, two, three, etc.
those
both
least
our
what
each
less
several
which
either
many
some
whose
enough
more
such
your
Sometimes we don’t use a determiner before the noun. We call this ‘zero determiner’:
Dogs love biscuits.
See also:
A/an and the
What do determiners do?Determiners have two main functions: referring and quantifying.
ReferringReferring means showing us who or what the noun is pointing to or talking about. The most common types of determiners which we use for referring are articles, possessives and demonstratives:
A:Where’s the newspaper?
B:It’s on the sofa. (the means the noun refers to something the speaker and listener both know or are familiar with)
A:Have you seen my MP3 player anywhere?
B:Yes. It’s on the kitchen table. (my refers to something which belongs to the speaker; the refers to something the speaker and listener can both identify because they both know or share knowledge about it.)
Do you want this bag or are you going to put it in that box? (this refers to something near the speaker; that refers to something further away.)
Charles is looking for his dictionary. Have you got it? (his means the noun refers to something belonging to a male, in this case, Charles.)
Quantifying‘Quantifying’ means showing how much of something there is, or how many:
Five people were arrested during an anti-war demonstration in London today.
There are some letters here for you. (some means a non-specific, small number or quantity of something.)
Do you have enough flour to make the bread. (enough means a quantity that is sufficient or adequate for something).
See also:
A/an and the
Possession (John’s car, a friend of mine)
Some and any
Determiners and modifiers