Tamilnadu Samacheer Kalvi 12th English Grammar: Determiners
Study the sentences given below:
- I saw a juggler yesterday.
- My uncle is an officer in the army.
- This car is very comfortable.
- Some pictures are really fine.
- Do you have any complaints about me?
- She is blind of one eye.
In the above sentences, a, an, the, this, my, some, any and one are words which mark the subsequent arrival of a noun. Each of them modifies the noun which follows it. Such words are called Determiners or Fixing words as they fix the nouns that follow them.
Types of Determiners
Here is a tentative list of the most frequently used Determiners:
(a) a, an, the – (Article Determiners)
(b) this, that, these, those – (Demonstrative Determiners)
(c) my, our, your, his, her, its, their, one’s – (Possessive Determiners)
(d) one, two, three, etc. – (Definite Numerical Determiners)
(e) some, any, no; all, both; much, many; few, less, several, little – (Indefinite Numeral Determiners)
(f) each, every, either, neither – (Distributive Numeral Determiners)
Use Of Some Common Determiners
- A hen laid an egg yesterday.
- Bring me the purse I gave you.
- This car is very beautiful.
- Aditi lives in that house.
- These books are yours.
- Get me those mangoes please.
- My mother is a teacher.
- Your brother is calling you.
- Our school has fifty rooms.
- Their house is double-storeyed.
- Five boys are sitting on that bench.
- He stays on the first floor.
- There isn’t any sugar in the pot.
- Will you have some tea?
- She gave me all the apples.
- Both the friends refused to part.
- He has not solved many sums.
- There are few buses running.
- He had little money.
- I play hockey every day.
- Either book will do.
- Neither statement is true.
Practice Questions
1. We have ……………. kilometers to go but there is only a ……………. petrol left in the tank!
2. There isn’t ……………. time; we’ve only ……………. minutes left before the movie starts.
3. I took ……………. apple from ……………. refrigerator and ate it.
4. Quite ……………. trees were blown down by the storm last night ……………. workers were trying to clear them off the road this morning.
5. How ……………. rice is there in the pot? We need only ……………. to feed the cat.
6. Don’t add ……………. salt. I have already put in ……………. and the soup is just right.
7. ……………. goats have wandered into the garden and damaged ……………. plants.
8. A man may have ……………. wealth and yet not be ……………. happier with it.
9. On Sundays, there is not ……………. traffic along this road.
10. I tried to phone her two or three times, but ……………. time there was no reply.
Glossary of Terms
- Determiner
- A word placed before a noun to specify quantity or to clarify what the noun refers to (e.g., 'a', 'the', 'my', 'some').
- Juggler
- An entertainer who performs skillful tricks, such as throwing and catching several objects simultaneously.
- Subsequent
- Coming after something else in time or order; following.
- Modifies
- In grammar, to change or add to the meaning of another word. For example, an adjective modifies a noun.
- Tentative
- Not certain or fixed; provisional or subject to change.
- Demonstrative
- A determiner used to point to a specific thing or person (e.g., this, that, these, those).
- Possessive
- A determiner that indicates ownership or possession (e.g., my, your, his, her, its, our, their).
- Distributive
- A determiner that refers to individual members of a group (e.g., each, every, either, neither).