Articles, Determiners, and Quantifiers

DEFINITION AND USE

WHAT ARE THEY EXACTLY

Articles, determiners, and quantifiers are those little words that precede and modify nouns.

the teacher, a college, a bit of honey, that person, those people, whatever purpose, either way, your choice

CAN BE SPECIFIC OR GENERAL

Sometimes these words will tell the reader or listener whether we're referring to a specific or general thing

the garage out back

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

sometimes they tell how much or how many

lots of trees, several books, a great deal of confusion

DETERMINERS…

Determiners are said to "mark" nouns. A determiner will be followed by a noun. Some categories of determiners are limited

Determiners

Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type.

a car

This Apples

a fast car

DETERMINERS

Determiners are different to pronouns in that a determiner is always followed by a noun.

Therefore personal pronouns ( I , you , he , etc.) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, etc.) cannot be determiners.

DETERMINERS

The definite and indefinite articles a/an/the are all determiners.

You use a specific determiner when people know exactly which thing(s) or person/people you are talking about.

the definite article : the

demonstratives : this, that, these, those

possessives : my, your, his, her, its, our, their

For example:"The dog barked at the boy.“

"These apples are rotten.“

"Their bus was late."

THE SPECIFIC DETERMINERS ARE:

GENERAL DETERMINERS

the indefinite articles : a, an

a fewa little all another any

both each either enough every

few fewer less little manymore most much

neither no other several some

For example:

"A man sat under an umbrella.“

"Have you got any English books that I could have?“

"There is enough food to feed everyone."

ADVERBSSecond part:

ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that modify

1. a verb (He drove slowly. — How did he drive?)

2. an adjective (He drove a very fast car. — How fast was his car?)

3. another adverb (She moved quite slowly down the aisle. — How slowly did she move?)

ADVERBS

adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened.

Adverbs frequently end in –ly however, many words and phrases not ending in

-ly serve an adverbial function. and an -ly ending is not a guarantee that a word

is an adverb.

ADVERBS

The words lovely, lonely, motherly, friendly, neighborly, for instance, are adjectives:

That lovely woman lives in a friendly neighborhood.

ADVERBS

Adverbs can modify adjectives, but an adjective cannot modify an adverb.We would say that:

"the students showed a really wonderful attitude“

"the students showed a wonderfully casual attitude“

"my professor is really tall.

but not : "He ran real fast."

ADVERBS

Like adjectives, adverbs can have comparative and superlative forms to show degree.

Walk faster if you want to keep up with me.

The student who reads fastest will finish first.

ADVERBS

We often use more and most, less and least to show degree with adverbs:

With sneakers on, she could move more quickly among the patients.

The flowers were the most beautifully arranged creations I've ever seen.

Examples

She worked less confidently after her accident.

That was the least skillfully done performance I've seen in years.

Kinds of Adverbs

Adverbs of Manner   She moved slowly and spoke quietly.

Adverbs of Place   She has lived on the island all her life.    She still lives there now.

Kinds of Adverbs

Adverbs of Frequency   She takes the boat to the mainland every day.   She often goes by herself.

Adverbs of Time   She tries to get back before dark.   It's starting to get dark now.   She finished her tea first.   She left early.

Kinds of Adverbs

Adverbs of Purpose   She drives her boat slowly to avoid hitting the rocks.   She shops in several stores to get the best buys.

FOR YOUR ATTENTION