Determiners
English Language: KS3, topic 3.1.6
Determiners
Determiners help identify which noun you are talking about.
What are determiners?
- Determiners allow you to know:
- Whether a noun is already known.
- Whether a noun is being mentioned for the first time.
- Whether you are singling out a noun.
- The most common determiners are ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’.
The most common determiners
- The most common determiners are called articles.
- There are two types of articles:
- The definite article.
- The indefinite article.
Indefinite or definite article
- When you haven’t introduced a noun before, you use the indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’.
- E.g. there is a bed in the room.
- If the noun is already known, you use the definite article ‘the’.
- E.g. look under the bed in the room.
Using articles
- The definite or indefinite article is used before a noun.
- E.g. 'the room'.
- E.g. 'a room'.
- The definite or indefinite article can also be used before an adjective:
- E.g. ‘the big room’.
- E.g. 'a big room'.
Determiners
Determiners help identify which noun you are talking about.
Demonstrative determiners
- Demonstrative determiners tell you where something is.
- ‘This’ and ‘these’ indicates something is or somethings are close by.
- ‘That’ and ‘those’ indicates something is or somethings are further away.
Possessive determiners
- Possessive determiners tell you who owns something.
- ‘My’ and ‘your’, ‘his’ and ‘her’, and ‘its’ and ‘their’ tell you who owns a noun.
Test yourself on Determiners
What do determiners allow you to know?
What are the two types of article in English?
Which of these sentence contains a definite article?
What do possessive determiners do?