Determiners and quantifiers

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

Hello aseel aftab,

Different labels can be applied to determiners. You can find a discussion of this on the relevant wikipedia page in the section headed 'Description':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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

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

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

Hello dear Kirk, Thank you, thanks a lot.

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

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?

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

Thanks a lot.

Hello dear Kirk, Thank you, thanks a lot.

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".

Hello Adya's,

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

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you very much. ☺️

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

what is the difference between that this these and those plz

Hello omar123,

We use this and that with singular reference.

These and those are used with plural reference.

We use this and these to describe something which is close to us in some way. This could be physically close but it could also be close in other ways, such as close in time. For example, if we are inside a house then we would generally use this to describe it, and that to describe another house (next door or across the street). If we talk about time then this generally means the next one ('this weekend', for example) and that generally means the previous one ('last weekend').

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, dear team, I’ve had my briefcase stolen, Is this equal to ( my briefcase was stolen), any difference? Thank you

Hello Hosseinpour,

Yes, that is correct. We can use to 'had sth done' construction with the meaning of 'this happened to me' to describe unexpected events.

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello dear Peter, Thank you, Thanks a lot.

Dear Sirs, I wrote the following the sentence: Writing an/the introduction to an essay is challenging. I was confused whether I should use an or the before the noun introduction. It appears to me both are acceptable. Am I right in my thinking? Thanks for your incredible (free) help.

Hi cbenglish,

That's right, both 'an' and 'the' are possible here. Which one would be better depends on the context. Have you seen our Articles 1 and 2 pages? The explanations there might be useful for you, or if you have a specific context in which you'd say this, please explain it to us and we can suggest which article would be more appropriate in that context.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Dear Sirs, I wrote the following sentences: 1. Hinduism is followed by millions in India. 2. Hindu religion is followed by millions in India. I felt that the first sentence is correct, but I could not be sure about the second one. It could be right but I felt that the sentence should read "The Hindu religion..." (i.e., the term Hindu religion should be preceded by the definite article). Am I right in my thinking? Or both are correct? If the term Hindu religion requires the definite article, what is the reason for this? Thank you very much.

Hello cbenglish,

You are correct. No article is used in the first sentence because 'Hinduism' is an abstract noun and so no article is used. You could use the definite article if you want to distinguish between different versions of Hinduism:

the Hunduism of modern India

the Hinduism of the Indian diaspora

In the second sentence the definite article is needed because you are specifying which of a number of religions you are describing. If you talk about religion as an abstract concept then no article is needed:

every society, as far as we know, has created for itself some form of religion

for many people, religion is a key part of their identity

We do not use articles with the proper names of religions, so we say Islam, Christianity, Hunduism, Judaism, Buddhism and so on. However, if we specify a particular religion by using an adjective then we use the definite article:

the Christian religion grew out of the Jewish faith

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Many many thanks. I feel like I will never be able to fully understand the proper use of articles. I can parrot the rules, but when it comes to putting the rules into practice, I just fumble!

nice and thank you. but if test organinzed by sentence that will be more helpful for us.

A Foolish Stag or The Foolish Stag...which is correct and why?

Hello Shahid,

If this refers to the name of a pub then The Foolish Stag would be correct. Names of pubs in the UK generally use the definite article (The Dog and Duck, The Garret, The Duke of York etc).

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you sir.

Determiners and quantifiers

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