NOUNS

Determiners

With Chris!

NOUNs Determiners

Singular Plural

Countable Uncountable

• The United States
• Disneyland
• George Lucas
• Prince Charles
• The Nobel Prize
• The World Cup
• The Northern Lights

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• A country
• An Amusement park
• A Movie director
• A prince
• An award
• An event
• A phenomenon

• Countries
• Amusement parks
• Movie directors
• Princes
• Awards
• Events
• Phenomena

• Water, soda, milk, etc.
• Love, empathy, sadness, etc.
• Oxygen, nitrogen, air,etc.
• Gold (Au), carbon (C), neon (ne), etc.
• Wheat, rice, dust, sand, etc.
• Weather, Rain, snow, sunshine, etc.

In a previous lesson we learned about nouns. We learned that nouns can be separated into Proper and Common Nouns, Common Nouns can be separated into Countable and Uncountable Nouns, and Countable Nouns can be separated into Singular and Plural Nouns.

We can use these same categories to study Determiners.

NOUN Determiners

• Belgium
• Brazil
• Japan
• Korea

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Determiners are used to show which nouns as well as how many or how much we are referring to. Proper Nouns never use determiners because there is only one of them. It makes no sense to say “every Japan” or “neither Brazil.” Yes, there is a special case that might allow “both Koreas.” Ah, exceptions.

• countries

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NOUN Determiners

Common

Uncountable

Some of the determiners used with Uncountable nouns are all (of), some (of), and none of. The “of” is required in none of.

• All describes 100% of the noun.
• All of describes 100% of a specific type of the noun. In this case, only the snow in the yard.
• Some describes a portion of the noun..
• Some of describes a portion of a specific type of the noun. In this case, only the soda in the store.
• None of describes zero percent of a specific type of the noun. In this case, only the lightning from that one storm.

• All gold is valuable in every culture.
• All of the snow in our yard had melted.
• Some work earns higher pay.
• Some of the store’s soda was on sale.
• None of the lightning hit his house.

NOUN Determiners

Countable

Singular

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Some of the determiners we use with countable singular nouns are each, every, and no.

• Each describes 2 or more of a noun that are individually recognised. Notice the singular verb!
• Each can be used as a pronoun.
• Every describes 3 or more of a noun that are recognised as a group.
• No describes 2 or more of a noun with zero percent being recognised. Notice the singular verb!

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• Each student was able to do the work.

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• There were 3 children and I gave a cookie to each.
• Every student passed the test.
• No customer wants to pay too much.

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NOUN Determiners

Countable

Plural

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Some of the determiners we use with countable plural nouns are all (of), no and none of.

• All describes 100% of a noun in a group, in this case, drivers. Notice the plural verb!
• All of describes 100% of a noun with a shared quality. In this case, only the books with the quality “horror.”
• No describes 2 or more of a noun with zero percent being recognised. Notice the singular verb!
• None of describes zero percent of a specific type of the noun, in this case, only my students.

• All drivers should obey the speed limit .
• All of the horror books have great stories.
• No teacher ever wants to fail a student.
• None of my students wants to watch Star Wars.

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NOUN Determiners

Countable

Plural

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Two more very common countable plural determiners are both and neither. They always refer to 2 nouns. Always.

• Both describes two nouns that share a quality.
• Both of describes two nouns that share a quality. It emphasises the nouns, in this case, shirts.
• Neither describes two nouns that share a negative quality, in this case, not dressing like the other.
• Neither of describes two nouns that share a quality. It emphasises the nouns, in this case, my students.
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• Both Kunhee and his sister Kunshe are excellent students.
• Both of the shirts were too large.
• Neither twin wanted to dress like the other did.
• Neither of my students wants to watch Star Wars.

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NOUN Determiners

There are 50 or so determiners in English. We can’t cover all of them in class.

Look for this link in the vocabulary section of our website to learn more.

DETERMINERS IN ENGLISH

• Definite article : the
• Indefinite articles : a, an
• Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
• Pronouns and possessive determiners : my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• Quantifiers : a few, a little, much, many, a lot of, most, some, any, enough
• Numbers : one, ten, thirty
• Distributives : all, both, half, either, neither, each, every
• Difference words : other, another
• Pre-determiners : such, what, rather, quite