Determiners and quantifiers

Determiners and quantifiers

Read clear grammar explanations and example sentences to help you understand how determiners and quantifiers are used. Then, put your grammar knowledge into practice by doing the exercises.  

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Submitted by p t balagopal on Wed, 12/09/2018 - 07:16

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Sir, I wrote the following first sentence while forwarding an application to the higher authorities . " The application for the revival of the account no 3857DF received from the depositor ,Mr. John is sent herewith." Here , I am introducing an application of which the higher authorities have no prior knowledge . So I must have used ' an application '. But when a noun is post modified by a prepositional phrase { ' for revival ----} , definite article should be used as I did . Which is correct ? Similarly can I use 'application for revival ' instead of 'application for the revival ' ? Kindly explain .
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Submitted by Peter M. on Thu, 13/09/2018 - 07:15

In reply to by p t balagopal

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Hello p t balagopal,

The definite article is required here as the sentence contains its own clarification of which application is being referred to. You can use either 'the revival' or 'revival'. However, we would not use any article before 'account'. When a noun is numbered in this way we use the zero article. Thus, we would say 'go to house number 3' not 'the house'.

 

The setence would therefore be as follows:

The application for revival of account no 3857DF received from the depositor, Mr. John, is sent herewith.

 

This is a very formal phrasing, however, and not the normal way we would normally phrase it. I think we would use 'enclosed' (if the application is part of a letter) or 'attached' (if sent electronically):

Please find enclosed the application for revival of account no 3857DF, received from the depositor, Mr. John.

Please find attached the application for revival of account no 3857DF, received from the depositor, Mr. John.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Sir, Thanks for your reply. I never expected it to be so detailed. Thanks for your effort. Balagopal

Submitted by Akong on Tue, 11/09/2018 - 23:11

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Sir A friend asked: is the statement "what did James is wrong" correct or grammatically wrong?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Wed, 12/09/2018 - 06:25

In reply to by Akong

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Hello Akong,

The sentence is wrong. The correct sentence would be as follows:

What James did is wrong.

 

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

 

Submitted by Akong on Tue, 11/09/2018 - 10:37

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Sir Which of these sentences is correct 1 "What John did is wrong" 2 "What John did was wrong" Then sir, in the correct sentence, does "what" serve as DEMONSTRATIVE or INTEROGATIVE determiner?
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Tue, 11/09/2018 - 18:17

In reply to by Akong

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Hi Akong,

Both are correct and the structure of both is that of a wh-cleft sentence. 'what' acts as a kind of pronoun here.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by amol on Wed, 22/08/2018 - 06:23

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Hello Sir, I am confused with the use of nouns in the following sentence: 1. The German or The Germans are patriot. Which one is correct? Thanks in advance.

Hello amol,

The Germans are patriots is the correct option.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by cbenglish on Wed, 22/08/2018 - 05:08

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Dear Sirs, Please have a look at these two sentences: 1. The girls sitting over there are my cousins. 2. Girls sitting over there are my cousins. I know the first sentence is grammatically correct but I can't explain why sentence 2 is incorrect. Let's say, my listener (say my friend) is hearing it from me for the first time. In this situation, he does not know the specific or definite girls. I tend to believe that this situation calls for a zero article (I am confused if I have to say zero article or a zero article). How does the meaning change if I use sentence 2 or it would be patently wrong? I would be grateful if you could provide me with some clues about how to think about this issue. Reading grammar books is not helping me much in this matter! Thanks in advance!
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Submitted by Peter M. on Wed, 22/08/2018 - 08:08

In reply to by cbenglish

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Hello cbenglish,

We use the definite article (the) when the noun is known and/or identified; in other words, when a specific item is referred to and not just any item or all items in general.

In your sentence the item is specified. You are not just talking about any girls, but about the specific girls who are sitting over there. Therefore the definite article is needed and the sentence without 'the' is incorrect.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello sir, Why do you say "...referred to" and not just "...referred". Thanks so much!

Hello Ivánnn,

The verb 'refer' always occurs with the preposition 'to'. It is what we call a dependent preposition.

You can read more about these on this page.

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by cbenglish on Sun, 19/08/2018 - 07:28

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Hello Sirs, I am trying to compose a sentence: Imagine what it would be like to live without [a] language. I just can't figure out whether I should use an indefinite article before the noun language. To me use of an article in the sentence above appears optional. Am I right in my thinking? Thanks in advance!

Hello cbenglish,

The sentence is correct both with and without the article, and both have a general meaning.

It is possible to use different articles with a general meaning but there are some changes in emphasis and even meaning. I wrote quite a long explanation of this in answer to another use a while ago. You can find that post here"

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/comment/121889#comment-121889

Peter
The LearnEnglish Team

Sir In the sentence: the book on the table is mine..we understand that the article is definit (the) What if we say: that book on the table is mine. is (that) also a definite article in this case or the sentence is wrong.
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Mon, 10/09/2018 - 15:59

In reply to by Akong

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Hello Akong,

Yes, you can use 'that' and the sentence is grammatically correct. 'that', like 'the', is a determiner, but only 'the' is a definite article.

By the way, you only need to submit your posts once. We check all comments before they are published and so it can take some time before your comments appear on our site. Thanks in advance for your cooperation with this.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by aseel aftab on Fri, 17/08/2018 - 13:17

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They have eaten it all. In this sentence to me all is an adverb because it is describing how much they have eaten. But a dictinary is saying it is a pronoun. Plz guide.

Hello aseel aftab,

The word 'all' has many uses. You can find good guides here:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/quantifiers/all

https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/all_1

 

However, I would suggest that you try not to worry too much about the labels given to particular parts of speech. We can use 'all' as a pronoun followed by of (all of them) or following an object pronoun (them all), but identifying the name of the form is much less important than knowing what it means and how it is used.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by aseel aftab on Fri, 17/08/2018 - 13:14

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What is the difference between all the food and all of the food?

Hello aseel aftab,

All can be used with general or specific meaning; all of can only be used with specific meaning:

All cats have whiskers. [every example of a cat anywhere - general]

All of cats have whiskers.

All these cats are black. [every example of a cat in this group - specific]

All of these cats are black.

 

Both can be used with nouns (as above).

Both can be used with possessive adjectives (all your cats / all of your cats).

We can only use all of before pronouns:

All of you are my friends.

All you are my friends.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

 

Submitted by aseel aftab on Thu, 16/08/2018 - 00:54

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What's the difference between a determiner of quantifiers and pronoun. Some dictionaries also say one thing is both pronoun and determiner and their uses are also same so how can we avoid confusions?

Hello aseel aftab,

Words can have different uses, so a word like 'fast' can be an adjective (a fast car), and adverb (go fast) and a verb (fast for a week), for example.

With regard to the names given to these forms, please see my answer to your other question below.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by aseel aftab on Thu, 16/08/2018 - 00:09

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Are they not demonstrative adjectives or simply adjectives as they are describing noun? This is what I have read in an english learning book plz guide

Submitted by Abdel El on Sun, 22/07/2018 - 12:58

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hello why we should use article definite the in this sentence?: I love living in ____the__ country. I love ___the___ peace and quiet you find there.

Hello Abdel El,

We use the definite article when something is specfied for both the speaker and listener. One way to think of this is that if we use the definite article then we can answer the question 'which'.

 

For example, in your sentence we can ask these questions:

Which country?

Which peace and quiet?

 

The answers are:

Not just any country, but the country I love.

Not just any peace and quiet, but the peace and quiet you find in the country the speaker loves.

 

I hope that helps the clarify it for you.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Sat, 07/07/2018 - 08:26

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Hello dear Peter, Thank you, thank you a lot.

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Wed, 04/07/2018 - 17:56

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Hello dear team, Could you kindly use the phrase (very much though) in a sentence. I can not provide the context, I heard it on an interview with a star, it is so fast that I can not hear it. Thank you

Hello Hosseinpour,

I can't be sure, but I think the phrase you heard may have been very much so rather than very much though.

Very much so is a way of agreeing with something in an emphatic way:

Do you like swimming?

Very much so! I go swimming every morning, in fact.

You can read more about the phrase here and here.

 

We do not use very much though as a phrase. The words can occur together, but as separate phrases:

I like swimming very much, though I don't go swimming very often.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Wed, 13/06/2018 - 15:03

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Hello dear Kirk, Thank you, thanks a lot.

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Tue, 12/06/2018 - 09:04

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Hello dear team, Can I say ( I change iron to gold, or should I use 'into'') Thank you

Hello Hosseinpour,

'in' is possible, but 'into' is more commonly used and the form I would recommend here. You might also be interested in learning the word 'transmute' (also used with 'into'), which is used an alchemical contexts such as the one you appear to be writing in here.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Adya's on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 02:50

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Hi The word "stage", meaning a raised platform..., is listed in the Cambridge dictionary (and others as well) as a countable noun. But the example sentences don't use articles before "stage". For example, "Hamlet is on stage for most of the act", is an example sentence in the Cambridge dictionary. Please clarify why article has been omitted?
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Submitted by Peter M. on Wed, 06/06/2018 - 07:25

In reply to by Adya's

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Hi Adya's,

On stage and on the stage are both correct but have different uses.

The phrase on stage is actually an adjective or adverb which tells us that a given person is visible to the audience. The opposite is off stage and both phrases can be written as single words (onstage/offstage). It can be used with regard to film as well, or even to other public situations such as television or public meetings: The politician behaved one way onstage and quite another in private.

We can say on the stage to describe where someone is and then we would use the article.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Mon, 04/06/2018 - 09:32

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Hello dear Kirk, Thank you, thanks a lot.

Submitted by Adya's on Mon, 04/06/2018 - 03:15

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Hi The pronunciation of "the" as ðə or ðiː depending on a consonant or vowel word that follows it is clearly described. My question is if we can use ðiː for the sake of emphasis before consonant words as in the sentence, "This is the (ðiː) most important factor".
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Submitted by Peter M. on Mon, 04/06/2018 - 07:02

In reply to by Adya's

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Hello Adya's,

Yes, you can use the form /ðiː/ for emphasis.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Sun, 03/06/2018 - 13:46

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Hello dear team, In the following sentences what is the reason for using different prepositions with the words (street and road). We use two prepositions with street, (on street) shows homeless people, and (in) shows physical attendance. I watched a video from The British Council ( a dog's life) it says: 1.Walking (on the street) at night can be very dangerous. 2. People walking (on dangerous road). 3. It's dangerous to walk (on the road). 4. It's dangerous to walk (in the road). Thank you

Hi Hosseinpour,

It's good to try to make sense of how prepositions are used, but it's also important to realise that since they are used quite irregularly in English, sometimes you just have to use one or the other depending on the context. The general rules for 'in' and 'on' are summarised on this page. As far as I know, the prepositions are used in the same way with both 'road' and 'street'.

There is also quite a lot of variation in varieties of English -- in other words, in some places, 'in the road' may be more commonly used than 'on the road'. For example, I'd say that 'in the street' is the most commonly used in British English, whereas in American English, 'on the street' is more common. In American English, they also say 'in the street' but it implies being in the middle of the street in many cases.

'It's dangerous to walk in the street' is correct.

I hope this helps -- if you have any other specific questions, please let me know.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Adya's on Fri, 01/06/2018 - 08:47

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Hi In one grammar book it's given that the definite article 'the' should be used in place of possessive adjectives, like his or my. The book suggests that we should write 'He was hit on the head' and that 'He was hit on his head' is incorrect. What is correct?
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Submitted by Kirk Moore on Sat, 02/06/2018 - 08:31

In reply to by Adya's

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Hi Adya's,

In phrases that discuss blows to or pains in a person's body, we tend to use 'the' instead of a possessive adjective. 'He was hit on the head' is what British native speakers say, not 'on his head'.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Wed, 30/05/2018 - 21:14

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Hello dear Peter, Thank you a lot, thank you.

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Sun, 27/05/2018 - 16:30

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Hello dear team, I will raise the matter (at) the next meeting. She said that dad was (in) a meeting. Why do we use (at and in) in this situations with meeting. Thank you

Hello Hosseinpour,

These are very subtle distinctions. We generally use at with a more general meaning than in. For example:

at the school - This means somewhere close to the school. It could be outside or inside the building.

in the school - This means inside the building.

 

With some words the distinction is very small and it is really a question of conventions of use and I think both in and at could be used in both examples.

I would say that at a meeting suggests participation in a general sense: going to the place, meeting the people, chatting and also the actual meeting itself. On the other hand in a meeting suggests something more precise: the actual meeting itself from start to finish. However, the distinction is very subtle, as I said.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Thu, 24/05/2018 - 17:24

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Hello dear Peter, Thank you very much, thank you.

Submitted by Hosseinpour on Thu, 17/05/2018 - 12:26

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Hello dear team, I want to party and by party I mean read books. I think that read should be (reading). Am I right? If an ing form , so what is the reason? Thank you

Hello Hosseinour,

The -ing form is not needed here because the word read is intended to fit in the same place as party. We can think of the sentence like this:

I want to party and by party I mean (I want to) read books.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team