SEMINAR 2 B -- DETERMINERS -- INTRODUCTION (SGEL 5.3 -- 5.10) - 3 basic kinds of determiners: predeterminers (e.g. all, both, half)-- central det. (e.g. the, a, zero article) -- postdeterminers (e.g. many, few, little) - Nouns appear in noun phrases and the kind of reference depends on the accompanying determiners -- they affect the meaning of the noun, i.e. make it clear which particular thing(s) we are referring to or how much of a substance we're talking about. e.g. Have you seen a bicycle? -- indefinite reference Have you seen the bicycle? -- definite reference - We distinguish 3 main classes of determiners -- depending on their position in the noun phrase in relation to each other: 1) predeterminers: e.g. half, double, all (as in all the people) 2) central determiners: e.g. the, a, this 3) postdeterminers: cardinal (e.g. seven) and ordinal (e.g. first) numerals, few, many (as in the many passengers) - If there are more determiners in one noun phrase -- the order is 1) 2) 3) e.g. all the five boys, all their trouble, all these last few days - Some determiners help us to classify or identify, e.g. articles, demonstratives, possessives and some help to indicate quantity, e.g. numerals, quantifiers (many, much) I. CENTRAL DETERMINERS 1) the, a, zero - the definite and indefinite article are the most common determiners - relating definiteness to number we have the following system for C and U common nouns +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | countable | uncountable | |-----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+-----------------------| | | definite | the book | the music | | |---------------------+----------------------+-----------------------| | singular | indefinite | a book | music (zero art.) | |-----------------------+---------------------+----------------------+-----------------------| | | definite | the books | / | | |---------------------+----------------------+-----------------------| | plural | indefinite | books (zero art.) | / | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ - singular countable nouns must normally have a determiner in front of them (except e.g. `parallel constructions' such as Man or boy, I don't like him. Or `vocatives' such as Look here, man.) - coordinated noun phrase heads can share a determiner placed before the first head, e.g. the boys and (the) girls; a knife, (a) fork and (a) spoon - the indefinite article a/an can be regarded as an unstressed numeral `one': e.g. a pound or two = one or two pounds - the pronunciation, not the spelling determiners the form of the indefinite article a / an -> a bird -- an owl / an hour, a UNESCO official, an MP, an RP accent, a European car - the -> the same spelling, but two pronunciations - /*/ or /i/ !! when the articles are stressed for any reason (e.g. in slow speech and esp. in AmE), they are pronounced /d-i/, /ei/ or /aen/ - regardless of the 1^st sound of the noun e.g. He would be the /d-i/ man for the job. - the indefinite article may mean `certain', `a person giving his name as', e.g. in A Mr. Johnson came to see you last night. 2) Other central determiners - are mutually exclusive, i.e. there cannot be more than one occurring before the noun head, e.g. a the boy, a some boy but all the many white houses a) demonstratives - this, that -- with singular C or U nouns -- this picture, that music - these, those -- with plural C nouns -- these desks, those tables compare: What's that thing over there? (a determiner) That's our computer. (a pronoun) b) possessives -- my, our, your, his, her, its, their c) wh-determiners -- which, whose, whichever, whatever, whosever as relatives, indefinite relatives or interrogatives e.g. Please come at noon, by which time I shall be back in my office. The woman whose book you reviewed is on TV tonight. They will disapprove of whatever music is played. Which house do you prefer? / What time is it? d) negative determiner no e.g. He has no car / no children. Some determiners co-occur only with sg C nouns: a) universal determiners `every' and `each' e.g. Each student is required to write two essays. b) non-assertive dual det. `either' e.g. There is no parking permitted on either side of the street. You can park on either side. c) negative dual det. `neither' e.g. Parking is permitted on neither side of the street. Can I come on Monday or Tuesday? -- I'm afraid, neither day is possible. Careful about `neither of...' -- Neither of my sisters is /are married. (the sg is fml) Some determiners co-occur only with U and plural C nouns: a) general assertive det. some e.g. I'd like some bread / rolls. We haven't any bookshops here. ( in the sg. We haven't a bookshop here.) But: 1) `some' meaning `a certain' can also co-occur with sg C nouns, e.g. in: Some old person asked for you on the phone. 2) stressed some + sg C (especially temporal), e.g. in: Some day he will get his scholarship. b) general non-assertive det. any e.g. We haven't any bread / rolls left. c) quantitative enough e.g. We have enough equipment / tools for the job. Note: When stressed in some circumstances, any can occur with sg. C nouns, as in: e.g. She will consider any offer -- however small. II. PREDETERMINERS - precede those determiners with which they can co-occur - are mutually exclusive (e.g. all both girls) - have to do with quantification We can distinguish the following sets: a) all, both, half b) the multipliers (double, twice, three times) c) fractions (one third, one fifth) d) such, what (as in Such a surprise. or What a fine day.) Note the exception to the rule: `such' and `what' refer rather to quality than quantity, it's possible to combine , e.g. all such problems Predeterminers in detail a) All, both, half - can occur before the articles (all the time, half a day), demonstratives (all this time) and possessives (all my time) - as they are themselves quantifiers, they do not occur with quantitative determiners: every, each, (n)either, some, any, no, enough - they can be used pronominally -- as independent pronouns (on their own) e.g. All / Both the students sat for their exam all / both passed. - can be followed by `an of-phrase' which is optional with nouns but obligatory with pronouns!! e.g. All / Both / Half (of) the students passed the test. All of them / Both of them / Half of them failed. + all -- occurs with pl. C nouns and U nouns e.g. all the books / all books; all the music / all music both -- occurs only with pl. C nouns e.g. both the books / both books (both, and also either and neither are dual -- i.e. they can refer to only two entities) half -- occurs with sg. and pl. C nouns and U nouns e.g. half the book(s) / half a book; half the music but not half music - half an hour = a half hour (little difference in meaning) but: half a bottle of wine (= half of the contents) a half bottle of wine (= a small bottle holding half the contents of an ordinary bottle) ! all and both, but not half -- can appear after the operator: e.g. The students were all / both sitting for the exam. Note: `Half `and articles Normally we do not put `a' or `the' before `half' (but there are exceptions) e.g. He spends half (of) his time playing football. Half (of) my students don't understand this. He works half a mile from the village. How much is half a loaf of bread? I've bought some chocolate. You can have half. But: Would you like the big half or the small half? (=a particular half) Could I have half a pound / a half pound of oranges? (with measurement) I've been waiting for an hour and a half / one and a half hours. All v. whole - all + noun with no article usually has generic reference e.g. All men are created equal. but All the men in the mine wore helmets. (=specific) but not always! : I will see all students at 11 a.m. (this can't be generic ref.) - all (the) day / morning / week = the whole day / morning / week But: 1) in the negative- I haven't seen him all day. (= zero article) 2) with the indef. article only `whole' can be used -- I spent a whole morning studying. (not `an all morning') - with abstract nouns the whole is often preferable to all the e.g. the whole truth / distance - with proper nouns without the definite article e.g. all (of) Finland / London but the whole of Finland / London b) Multipliers 1) multipliers + def. article (double the amount) , demonstrative (three times this amount) or possessive (twice her age) -- the multiplier applies to the noun so determined (quantity) e.g. twice / double the length (= a length twice as great) three times her salary (= a salary three times as large) 2) multiplier + indef. art., each, every -- the multiplier applies to a measure (frequency) e.g. once a day four times every year three times each year also with every: We stopped once every mile. once every three months twice every hundred miles c) Fractions (other than half) - are usually followed by an of-phrase and are normally preceded by a numeral or the indefinite article e.g. She read half the book. / She read a quarter of the book. She read two quarters of the book. He did the work in one / a third (of) the time it took me. III. POSTDETERMINERS - are used immediately after central determiners, if such determiners are present e.g. The two young women were successful. We distinguish the following classes: a) cardinal numerals-- e.g. my three children, the two books b) ordinals --ordinal numerals e.g. first, fourth; and the so-called general ordinals: last, other, another, additional c) quantifiers -- e.g. many, few, plenty of, little, a lot of Where they co-occur, items from b) usually precede items from c) -- e.g. last few days, my last few possessions When there are more numerals in a noun phrase -- ordinals precede cardinals! -- e.g. first three days, the first two poems, another three weeks Quantifiers - (a) few, many, several + pl. C nouns - (a) little, much + U nouns - comparatives -- fewer / the fewest;+ less / the least Note: In an informal style `less' is often used instead of `fewer' with C nouns eg. I make less mistakes now than I used to make. Some people consider this incorrect. few v. little - with a they have a positive meaning -- e.g. I play a few games. (=several) She ate a little bread (=some) - without a they have a negative meaning -- e.g. I play few games. (=hardly any) She ate little bread. (hardly any) Note: `quite a few' is similar in meaning to `rather a lot' e.g. He speaks quite a few languages. Other quantifiers - plenty of, a lot of, lots of + C or U nouns -- a lot of friends / time - a great deal of, a large quantity of, a small amount of + U nouns -- a great deal of time not: a great deal of students - a great / large number of + C nouns -- a large number of students Assertive v. non-assertive - some items are predominantly assertive -- plenty of, a few, a little - some items are predominantly non-assertive -- much, many