English determiners (also known as determinatives) are words – such as the, a, each, some, which, this, and six – that are most commonly used with nouns to specify their referents. The determiners form a closed lexical category in English.
The syntactic role characteristically performed by determiners is known as the determinative function (see ). A determinative combines with a noun (or, more formally, a nominal; see ) to form a noun phrase (NP). This function typically comes before any modifiers in the NP (e.g., some very pretty wool sweaters, not *very pretty some wool sweaters). The determinative function is typically obligatory in a singular, countable, common noun phrase (compare I have a new cat to *I have new cat).
Semantically, determiners are usually definite or indefinite (e.g., the cat versus a cat), and they often agree with the number of the head noun (e.g., a new cat but not *many new cat). Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect.
The most common of these are the definite and indefinite articles, the and a(n). Other determiners in English include the demonstratives this and that, and the quantifiers (e.g., all, many, and none) as well as the numerals. Determiners also occasionally function as modifiers in noun phrases (e.g., the many changes), determiner phrases (e.g., many more) or in adjective or adverb phrases (e.g., not that big). They may appear on their own without a noun, similar to pronouns (e.g., I'll have some), but they are distinct from pronouns.
Terminology
Words and phrases can be categorized by both their syntactic category and their syntactic function. In the clause the dog bit the man, for example, the dog belongs to the syntactic category of noun phrase and performs the syntactic function of subject. The distinction between category and function is at the heart of a terminological issue surrounding the word determiner: various grammars have used the word to describe a category, a function, or both.
Some sources, such as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, use determiner as a term for a category as defined above and determinative for the function that determiners and possessives typically perform in a noun phrase (see ). Others, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL), make the opposite terminological choice. And still others (e.g., The Grammar Book) use determiner for both the category and the function. This article uses determiner for the category and determinative for the function in the noun phrase.
The lexical category determiner is the class of words described in this article. They head determiner phrases, which can realize the functions determinative, predeterminative, and modifier:
determiner phrases as determinatives: the box, this hill
determiner phrases as predeterminatives: all the time, both those cars
determiner phrases as modifiers: these two images, clear enough
The syntactic function determinative is a function that specifies a noun phrase. That is, determinatives add abstract meanings to the noun phrase, such as definiteness, proximity, number, and the like. While the determinative function is typically realized by determiner phrases, they may also be realized by noun phrases and prepositional phrases:
noun phrases as determinatives: my question, this size room
prepositional phrases as determinatives: over twenty belts, up to a hundred people
This article is about determiners as a lexical category.
History
Traditional grammar has no concept to match determiners, which are instead classified as adjectives, articles, or pronouns. The articles and demonstratives have sometimes been seen as forming their own category, but are often classified as adjectives. Linguist and historian Peter Matthews observes that the assumption that determiners are distinct from adjectives is relatively new, "an innovation of … the early 1960s."
In 1892, prior to the emergence of the determiner category in English grammars, Leon Kellner, and later Jespersen, discussed the idea of "determination" of a noun:
In Old English the possessive pronoun, or, as the French say, "pronominal adjective," expresses only the conception of belonging and possession; it is a real adjective, and does not convey, as at present, the idea of determination. If, therefore, Old English authors want to make nouns preceded by possessive pronouns determinative, they add the definite article.