Determiners

Determiners are words like the, an, my, some. They are grammatically similar. They all come at the beginning of noun phrases, and usually we cannot use more than one determiner in the same noun phrase.

Articles

a, an, the

Possessive Adjectives

my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose

each, every

either, neither

some, any

much, many; more, most

little, less, least

few, fewer, fewest

what, whatever; which, whichever

both, half, all

several

enough

Articles

a, an / the

The words a/an and the are "articles". We divide them into "indefinite" and "definite" like this:

indefinite articles	definite article
a an	the

We use "indefinite" to mean not sure, not certain. "Indefinite" is general.

We use "definite" to mean sure, certain. "Definite" is particular.

When we are talking about one thing in general, we use a or an. When we are talking about one thing in particular, we use the.

Think of the sky at night. In the sky we see millions of stars and 1 moon. So normally we would say:

• I saw a star last night.
• I saw the moon last night.

Look at these examples:

a, an	the
I was born in a town. John had an omelette for lunch. James Bond ordered a drink. We want to buy an umbrella. Have you got a pen?	The capital of France is Paris. I have found the book that I lost. Have you cleaned the car? There are six eggs in the fridge. Please switch off the TV when you finish.

On this page we talk only about the difference between "a/an" and "the" with singular, countable nouns.

Of course, often we can use a/an or the for the same word. It depends on the situation, not the word. Look at these examples:

• We want to buy an umbrella. (Any umbrella, not a particular umbrella.)
• Where is the umbrella? (We already have an umbrella. We are looking for our umbrella, a particular umbrella.)

This little story should help you understand the difference between a, an and the:
A man and a woman were walking in Oxford Street. The woman saw a dress that she liked in a shop. She asked the man if he could buy the dress for her. He said: "Do you think the shop will accept a cheque? I don't have a credit card."

Possessive Adjectives

We use possessive adjectives to show who owns or "possesses" something. The possessive adjectives are:

• my, your, his, her, its, our, their
• whose (interrogative)

Warning! These are adjectives. Don't confuse them with pronouns.

number	person	gender	possessive adjective	example sentence
singular	1st	male/ female	my	This is my book.
	2nd	male/ female	your	I like your hair.
	3rd	male	his	His name is "John".
		female	her	Her name is "Mary".
		neuter	its	The dog is licking its paw.
plural	1st	male/ female	our	We have sold our house.
	2nd	male/ female	your	Your children are lovely.
	3rd	male/ female/ neuter	their	The students thanked their teacher.
singular/plural	1st/ 2nd/ 3rd	male/ female (not neuter)	whose	Whose phone did you use?

Compare:

your = possessive adjective
you're = you are

its = possessive adjective
it's = it is OR it has

their = possessive adjective
they're = they are
there = adverb (I'm not going there / look over there / there is a car outside)

whose = possessive adjective
who's = who is OR who has

Be careful! There is no apostrophe (') in the possessive adjective "its". We use an apostrophe to write the short form of "it is" or "it has". For example:
it's raining = it is raining
it's finished = it has finished

I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg.

each, every

The determiners each and every have similar but not always identical meanings. each = every one separately
every = each, all Sometimes, each and every have the same meaning:

• Prices go up each year.
• Prices go up every year.

But often they are not exactly the same. Each expresses the idea of "one by one". It emphasizes individuality. Every is half-way between each and all. It sees things or people as singular, but in a group or in general.
Consider the following example sentences:

• Every artist is sensitive.
• Each artist sees things differently.
• Every soldier saluted as the president arrived.
• The president gave each soldier a medal.

each

Each can be used in front of the verb:

• The soldiers each received a medal.

Each can be followed by "of":

• The president spoke to each of the soldiers.
• He gave a medal to each of them.

every

Every cannot be used for two things. For two things, each can be used:

• He was carrying a suitcase in each hand.

Every is used to say how often something happens:

• There is a plane to Bangkok every day.
• The bus leaves every hour.

Verbs with each and every are always conjugated in the singular:

Each person is an individual. Each person are an individual.
Every animal needs food. Every animal need food.

 

some, any

some = a little, a few or a small number or amount

any = one, some or all

Usually, we use some in positive (+) sentences and any in negative (-) and question (?) sentences.

	some	any	example situation
+	I have some money.		I have $10.
-		I don't have any money.	I don't have $1 and I don't have $10 and I don't have $1,000,000. I have $0.
?		Do you have any money?	Do you have $1 or $10 or $1,000,000?

In general, we use something/anything and somebody/anybody in the same way as some/any.

Look at these examples:

• He needs some stamps.
• I must go. I have some homework to do.
• I'm thirsty. I want something to drink.
• I can see somebody coming.

• He doesn't need any stamps.
• I can stay. I don't have any homework to do.
• I'm not thirsty. I don't want anything to drink.
• I can't see anybody coming.

• Does he need any stamps?
• Do you have any homework to do?
• Do you want anything to drink?
• Can you see anybody coming?

We use any in a positive sentence when the real sense is negative.

• I refused to give them any money. (I did not give them any money)
• She finished the test without any difficulty. (she did not have any difficulty)

Sometimes we use some in a question, when we expect a positive YES answer. (We could say that it is not a real question, because we think we know the answer already.)

• Would you like some more tea?
• Could I have some sugar, please?