Determiners

Lecture 5
Grammatical Determiners
Grammatical determiners is a concept
related to function.
It is used to make reference to various
linguistic units.
They all play a part in building up the
grammatical status of the noun
The articles are central among
these units
They have no function independent of the noun.

These linguistic units constitute a closed system.

In addition to articles, this system includes the
pronouns: possessive, interrogative,
demonstrative, indefinite, negative, distributive,
quantitative, etc.
Personal Pronouns
We call pronouns a subclass of nouns because
they can sometimes replace a noun in a sentence:
Noun Pronoun
John got a new job ~He got a new job
Children should watch
less television
~They should watch
less television
There are three personal pronouns, and each has
a singular and a plural form:
The first set of forms (I, you, he...) exemplifies the
SUBJECTIVE CASE
the second set (me, you, him...) exemplifies the
OBJECTIVE CASE
Person Singular Plural
1st I we
2nd you you
3rd he/she/it they
Person Singular Plural
1st me us
2nd you you
3rd him/her/it them
The Other Types of Pronoun
Pronoun Type
Members of the Subclass Example
Possessive mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs The white car is mine
Reflexive myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,
oneself, ourselves, yourselves,
themselves
He injured himself playing
football
Reciprocal each other, one another They really hate each other
Relative that, which, who, whose, whom, where,
when
The book that you gave me
was really boring
Demonstrative this, that, these, those This is a new car
Interrogative who, what, why, where, when, whatever What did he say to you?
Indefinite anything, anybody, anyone, something,
somebody, someone, nothing, nobody,
none, no one
There's something in my
shoe
Many of the pronouns belong to another
word class - the class of determiners.
They are pronouns when they occur
independently, without a noun
following them, as in
This is a new car.
But when a noun follows them they
are determiners.
This car is new.
The class of nouns as a whole is an open
class, the subclass of pronouns is closed.
A major difference between pronouns and
nouns generally is that pronouns do not take
the or a/an before them.

Further, pronouns do not take adjectives
before them, except in very restricted
constructions involving some indefinite
pronouns (a little something, a certain
someone).
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are marked for person,
number and gender.

Possessive pronouns vs. possessive adjectives

one set is used when the head in the NP is
expressed (This is my car),
the other set is used when the NP has
undergone ellipsis (the head is omitted: Your
car is bigger than mine ).
Possessive pronouns
Singular Plural
Subject
case
Object
case
Subject
case
Object
case
First person
my mine our ours
Second
person
your yours your yours
Third
person m.
his their theirs
f.
her hers
n.
its
Reflexive pronouns
marked for person and number
in 3
rd
person sg. they are also marked for gender
oneself (third person singular, but unmarked for
gender)
Singular Plural
First person myself ourselves
Second person yourself yourselves
Third person m. himself themselves
f. herself
n. itself
Reflexive use
The reflexive pronouns are used instead of personal
pronouns as direct or indirect object to indicate that the
object NP is co-referential with the subject NP in the clause.
John went to the barber's, and
the barber shaved him.
The barber shaved himself.
Granny felt tired, so Mary made
her a nice cup of tea.
Mary made herself a nice cup of
tea.
Reflexive verbs
Certain verbs which can only occur with a reflexive
object - reflexive verbs.

There is a difference in meaning:
e.g. enjoy a film 'be amused/thrilled/moved by a film'
vs. enjoy oneself 'have a good time' (not 'be amused/
thrilled/moved by oneself'!).
Emphatic use
The reflexive pronouns can also be used to give special
emphasis.
Mrs. Grant herself served the tea.
Mrs. Grant served the tea herself.

There is a subtle difference in meaning:
1. we get the impression that Mrs. Grant's serving the tea was
something remarkable, a great honour for the guests, etc.
2. we only learn that it was Mrs. Grant and nobody else who
served the tea, perhaps because nobody else wanted to
take the trouble
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns are marked for number and for
proximity (proximate and distal); this/these, that/those

Proximity in space: this book (refers to a book close to the
speaker), that book (to a book further away).

Proximity in time: This is the hottest summer since 1930 vs. I
remember the summer of '55: that was also a hot summer.
Wh-pronouns
Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are marked for
animacy of referent (who vs. what; which is
used with both) and for selectivity (which vs.
who/what).
In addition, who is marked for case
Non-selective Selective
Animate Inanimate
Subject case who what which
Object case who(m) what which
Genitive whose - -
Interrogative pronouns
introduce interrogative main clauses
(What has happened?)
or nominal subclauses expressing indirect
questions (He asked me what had
happened).

What man could resist such an offer?
(non-selective) vs.
Which book did you buy? (selective)
A selective pronoun is one that indicates that
the referent is selected from a specific group
of possible referents
When Great-aunt Emma was young, both the butcher
and the blacksmith in the village proposed to her.
Oh yes? Which of them did she marry?
Neither; she moved to London and ran a shop instead
of marrying.

which and neither are selective forms, indicating
that the referent is to be selected from the group
of referents
The non-selective pronouns who and
nobody are used to indicate that there are
no limits to the set of possible referents
This is a picture of Great-aunt Helen; she married
the village school-teacher. And this is Great-aunt
Emma as a young girl.
Who did she marry?
Nobody; she moved to London and ran a shop
instead of marrying.
Indefinite pronouns (and quantifying
determiners)
Since many of the indefinite pronouns coincide
in form with quantifying determiners, the two
groups will be presented together.

3 groups of indefinite pronouns: existential,
quantifying, and generic.
Existential indefinite pronouns
The existential indefinite pronouns are unmarked for gender,
status and animacy of referent.
Semantically they can be divided into
Simple Compound
Personal Non-personal
Universal Distributive every everyone, everybo
dy
everything
each; either - -
Collective all; both - -
Assertive some someone,
somebody
something
Non-assertive any; either anyone, anybody anything
Negative no, none; neither no one, nobody nothing
Universal existential pronouns
each vs. every slight difference

Each favours a selective interpretation, esp.
before an of-phrase: each member of the
Council, each of the members.

Every is used in clearly non-selective contexts:
Every star was shining bright on the firmament.
Quantifying indefinite pronouns
2 groups, multal and paucal forms, with parallel sets
of forms for use with C and U nouns

The multal forms indicate a great number of referents
(many) or a great amount (much);

The paucal forms indicate a small number (few) or a
small amount (little).
Multal Paucal
Countable many few
Uncountable much little
The generic indefinite pronoun
the generic indefinite pronoun one vs.
numeral one & prop word one
Numeral Indefinite
article
Prop word Generic
pronoun
Singular one one one one
Plural - - ones -
Genitive - - ones ones
Reflexive - - - oneself
The numeral one is used in a noun phrase: John lost
one dollar.

The prop word one replaces the head of a noun
phrase: John has a blue car, and Mary has a red one.
The new biscuits taste better than the old ones.

The generic pronoun is used with generic reference:
One should not think so much of oneself and one's
own problems.
The Articles
John saw a unicorn in the garden.

The person (John), the animal (unicorn)
and the garden in question are said to be
the referents of the expressions John, a
unicorn, and the garden, respectively.
To sum up: reference is a relation between an
expression (an utterance) and whatever in the
outside world that particular utterance is about
specific reference is to one or more specific,
identifiable referents, e.g. John saw a tiger in
the garden. The reference is here to one specific
tiger and one specific garden.

generic reference is to a whole class of
referents, either distributively to any member
of the class, e.g. Tigers are beautiful beasts, or
collectively to the class as a whole, e.g. Sabre-
toothed tigers are extinct.
Article distribution
The definite and the indefinite articles can never be
pronouns. They are always determiners.
Countable nouns
Specific reference

Singular
Plural

New information
I read a book
and some journals on the train.
The train drove past villages,
fields and clumps of trees.
Given information
The book was boring,
but the journals were interesting.
The villages looked dirty, but the
fields and the trees were covered
with white snow.
Generic reference
Singular

Plural
A lion is a dangerous beast. (distributive generic reference)
The lion is a dangerous beast. (collective generic reference)
Lions are dangerous beasts. (collective or distributive generic reference)
Uncountable nouns
Specific reference

Singular
Plural

Singular
New information
I bought some wine
and some clothes yesterday.

There's some/ beer in the
fridge.
Given information
The wine was expensive,
but the clothes were cheap.

The beer should be cold by now.
Generic reference
Singular
Plural
John likes wine./ Wine is expensive here.
Clothes are cheap there
Special cases
The definite article

We can recognize a number of cases where
the definite article is used without
contrasting with the other articles.
This is always the case with the following
categories of proper nouns:
A. Plural geographical names
Countries and regions: the Netherlands, the
United States, the Midlands

Mountain ranges, groups of islands: the
Rockies, the Himalayas, the Pyrenees, the
Andes; the Hebrides, the Scillies, the
Canaries (or the Scilly Isles, the Canary
Islands).
B. Singular geographical names
Seas: the Atlantic, the North Sea, the
Norwegian Sea, the Pacific
Rivers: the Thames, the Avon, the Danube,
the Euphrates, the Nile, the Potomac
Canals: the Suez Canal, the Erie Canal
Certain countries: the United Kingdom, the
Soviet Union
C. Various social institutions
Cultural institutions (theatres, museums,
libraries, galleries, cinemas): the Globe, the
Victoria and Albert, the Bodleian, the
Palladium
Restaurants, clubs, hotels: the Ritz, the
Sheraton

D. Newspapers: The Times, The Independent,
The Observer, The New Haven Advocate
(but zero article in names of magazines and
journals: Punch, Time, Life, Language)
E. Ships: the Victory, the Titanic
F. Organizations: the United Nations, the
European Union
The definite article is also used with
nominalized adjectives, including certain
nationality adjectives. Such constructions
always have generic reference: the poor,
the rich, the blind, the English, the Irish.
Note the difference between the English
(generic) and the Englishmen (specific).
The with longer noun groups
We do not normally use the with U nouns
because they refer to sth in a general way.
However, the is required if the U noun is
followed by a qualifier which relates it to a
particular person, thing.
Example: / am interested in the education of
young children.
The indefinite article
It is used to talk about things or
people in an indefinite way.
A or an are put in front of the sg.
form of a C noun.
Example: An old lady was calling
to him.
The indefinite article
it derives historically from the unstressed
form of 'one',
there are still many contexts in which this
numerical function is uppermost.
So 'one could be seen as a slightly
emphatic equivalent of 'a'.
Example: a mile or two /one or two
miles/
The indefinite article
when we are mentioning s.o. or sth. for
the first time

its the 'unmarked' article in the sense
that it is used where the conditions for
the use of 'the' do not obtain.

Unlike the definite article the indefinite
article does not signal co-reference with a
preceding indefinite noun phrase.
The indefinite article
with noun phrases which do not refer, but
ascribe a property to the referent of the
subject noun phrase or pronoun:

Ian is a Scot.
Peter is an engineer.
She is a first-year student.
He is a bachelor.
If, on the other hand, the NP refers to a
unique holder of an office/position, the
definite article (or the zero article) is used:
Peter is (the) chairman of the Board.

After the preposition as, however, the
zero article is used: Speaking as
chairman, I cannot accept this proposal.
The indefinite article
Although we do not normally use
determiners with uncountable nouns, we
can use a or an with an uncountable
noun when it is modified or qualified.

Example: She had an eagerness for life.
The indefinite article
when using one individual person or
thing to make a general statement about
all people or things of this type
Example: A computer can only do what
you program it to do.

This is not the usual way of referring to
groups. Normally, we would use the
plural form of a noun without a
determiner.
The zero article
in NPs with sg. C nouns and with specific reference if
the information is contextually given rather than
textually given.
This is the case with certain kinship terms (Mother,
Father, Uncle, Granny) and with a few occupational
terms (Cook, Nurse).
Note the difference b/n Mother helped them (the
speaker's mother) and The mother helped them (a
mother previously mentioned in the text).
The same use of the zero article is found with town, as
in Lulu's back in town.
In the following cases English uses zero
article corresponding to definite forms of
nouns in Bulgarian
abstract uncountables with generic reference: Life is
a struggle; Late 19th century art became
increasingly decadent;
activities associated with institutions: go to
church/school; go to/be in hospital/prison (AmE the
hospital) (but the definite article is used with
reference to the buildings: They went to the church
but the door was locked so they couldn't get in);
meals (Dinner is ready);
certain time expressions: Spring seemed a long way
away; Easter is early next year; at down, after dark,
before morning came
Means of transport and communication
Example: travel by car,communicate by telephone
Illnesses
The zero article is normally used for illnesses.
Example: appendicitis, diabetes, influenza, pneumonia.
But the is often used, in a more traditional style of speech,
for some well-known infection diseases.
Example: (the) flu, (the) measles, (the) mumps