Sometime in 2014 I had a long discussion in the Forum with a Russian member who wondered if determiners can be considered “half part of speech and half part a functional element” in English grammar. I had doubts about this rather curious and provocative idea and it prompted me to look deeper into what determiners really are, down to what I hoped would be a concise and instructive definition in clear, simple English.
Surprisingly, most of the many primary-source definitions of “determiner” I found in my research were too complicated and recursive, using words that just tend to fold repeatedly upon one another without yielding a clear sense or insight (
https://tinyurl.com/svmgdy7). To avoid adding to the confusion, I’m presenting here only the clearest, most succinct, and most useful definition that I found. It’s this one by the
Macmillan Dictionary, which defines “determiner” as follows: “a word used before a noun for showing which thing or things you are talking about. The words ‘a’, ‘the’, ‘this’, ‘some’, and ‘every’ are determiners.”
From my research I also gathered that from the standpoint of modern grammar, determiners are no longer considered a formal word class or part of speech but just a functional element of structure. They are classified into two types:
(1) Identifiers, single words that are used to identify a noun or one that expresses whether the thing or person is known to the recipient. They are of three kinds: (a)
the articles “a,” “an,” “the”; (b)
the demonstratives “these,” “this,” “that,” and “those”; and (3)
the possessives “my,” “our,” and “your.” Examples: “
A woman of substance” (article); “
That chair near the entrance (demonstrative); “
Your greatest achievement” (possessive).
(2) Quantifiers, single words that express the amount or quantity of a noun, whether a person or thing, and can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. Examples of quantifiers are “few,” “little,” “several,” “some,” “half,” “enough,” “many,” “much,” “either,” “every,” “each,” and “any.” Examples: “
Several drug pushers were caught in the dragnet.” “
Every employee gets a Christmas bonus.”
Considered distinct from determiners is the class of words known as
predeterminers, which by definition is a word placed before an article or determiner to give even more information about the noun that comes after. Some grammarians classify predeterminers into the following kinds:
IMAGE CREDIT: SLIDESHARE.NET (1) Intensifiers, single words such as “rather,” “quite,” “such,” “what,” “other.” Examples: “This apartment is quite
enough for the six of you.” “Aside from being intelligent, she’s
such a beauty.”
(2) Multipliers, single words such as “twice,” “thrice,” “quadruple,” “quintuple.” Example: “His condo is
twice the size of mine.” “Everyone was amazed by his
quadruple sales output this year.”
(3) Fractions, single or compound words such as “half,” “one-fourth,” “four-fifths.” Example: “They consumed
half of the food.” “The village went
four-fifths underwater last year.”
(4) Includers, single words such as “both” and “all.” Examples: “
Both cars of the family are under repair.” “
All assets of the company are gone according to the auditors.”
We must keep in mind that traditionally, predeterminers are considered simply as adjectives like the demonstratives and possessives. They are reclassified as predeterminers and broken down into the four kinds listed above simply to highlight or emphasize their distinct functionalities.
And we must always remember that by definition, a determiner is always a single word (like “this,” “some,” “every”) that’s used before a noun to show which thing or thing is being talked about. Technically, the mere fact that modifying phrases such as “a great amount of,” “a good deal of,” “a great deal of,” “a lot of,” “lots of,” and “a good/great many” consist of two words or more already disqualifies them from being classified as determiners.
In short, there really are no such things as determiner phrases in English grammar.
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The determiners and predeterminers are so basic in English grammar but they are admittedly tough and complicated to explain and to learn. Grammarians define and classify them in so many ways that many a learner could get lost and confused in the maze of their differing explanations; in fact, the discussion I presented above is just one attempt to simplify and unify those explanations for the general reader.
For a more thorough understanding of the subject, I recommend viewing the very instructive and illuminating YouTube video presentation by Miss Joyce Gatchalian, assistant instructor at the Ateneo de Manila University, about what the determiners and predeterminers are. You can watch her presentation by clicking the link below:(Next:
Grammar complication in how English objects work) December 12, 2019
This essay, 1,173rd of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of both the print and Internet editions of the December 5, 2019 issue of The Manila Times
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