Where do determiners go?
Determiners come first in noun phrases, before adjectives and noun modifiers.
determiner(s) | adjective(s) | noun modifier(s) | head noun |
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See also:
Noun phrases
More than one determiner
We can use more than one determiner in a noun phrase:
My twobest friends at school were Mike and Terry.
All yourbooks got wet when you left them in the garden – do you remember?
We don’t use two referring determiners or two quantifying determiners together:
We soldthehouse.
We soldourhouse.
Not:We sold the our house.
I havesomequestions.
I havemanyquestions.
Not:I have some many questions.
However, we can use a quantifying determiner (some, many, enough, etc.) +oftogether with a referring determiner (the, this, my, etc):
Many of thepeople present were very angry.
Some of hisfriends are awful people.
When there is more than one determiner in a noun phrase, we put them in a fixed order. The table shows the order from left to right.
quantifier (e.g.all, both, some) | article(a/an, the) | demonstrative(this, that, these, those) | possessive (e.g.my, her, our, Anna’s) | number (e.g.one, three, 26) | head noun |
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Many,much,more,most,few,little
We can usemany, much, more, most, fewandlittleaftertheor after a demonstrative or a possessive, especially in formal styles:
She spentthe littlemoney she had left on a new coat and hat.
Those fewbooks which were not destroyed in the fire have been transferred to the new library.
I shall invitemy manyfriends to join me on my 65th birthday.
All,both,half
All,bothandhalfcan come before articles, demonstratives and possessives. We can use them with or withoutof, with no difference in meaning:
All thatfood should be put in the fridge.(orAll of thatfood)
Doboth yourparents work in the city?(orboth of yourparents)
Half thepeople at the party hadn’t been invited.(orHalf of thepeople)
See also:
All
Both
One of,most of, etc.
Determiners other thanall,bothandhalfmust be used withofif they come before articles, demonstratives or possessives:
Do you wantany of theseboxes, or shall I throw them away?
Not:Do you want any these boxes…
Most of herschool friends got married before she did.
I’d likesome of thegreen grapes, please.
Two of myfavourite programmes are on TV at the same time!
Determiners which we use withofin this way are:
(a) few | enough | most |
(a) little | every(every one of) | much |
all | fewer | neither |
another | fewest | no(pronoun formnone) |
any | least | one,two,three, etc. |
both | less | several |
each | many | some |
either | more | which |
In formal styles, we useeach of, every one of, none ofandany ofwith a singular verb when they are the subject:
Each ofthe childrenwasgiven a place to hang their coat and bag.
None ofmy friendsownsa house.
However, in informal speaking, people often use plural verbs:
None ofthe computersareworking. They’re all being repaired at the moment.
Determiners with and withoutofmay have slightly different meanings.
withoutof | withof |
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Determiners and modifiers
Determiners which show quantity (underlined) may occasionally have words before them (modifiers, in bold) which make them more specific or stronger:
Nearlyeveryshop was closed for the public holiday.
The college has receivedmanymoreapplications this year than last year, but the total is stillfarfewerthan ten years ago.
They were able to give meverylittleinformation.