Determiners English Grammar For Class 6

Determiners

Of late, Determiners have been added to the list of the Parts of Speech. Earlier, there were eight parts of speech. With the addition of Determiners, they have become nine. Let us study what a determiner is.
Look at the following sentences:
1. That girl is my sister.
2. I gave him some milk.
3. He could do neither of the two sums.
In the above sentences, the adjectives ‘that, ‘some’ and ‘neither’ (as they used to be called earlier) do not describe things or persons, but point them out. These adjectives are called Determiners or Determinatives as they determine things or persons.

BASIC DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ADJECTIVE AND A DETERMINER 
An adjective is used to limit the application of a noun by describing it, ie, by giving information about the size, colour, age and other qualities.
For example: big cat, large house, fat lady.
A determiner is used to limit the application of a noun without describing it. We do not come to know anything about the quality of the noun.
For example: my room, three benches, two pencils, some sugar.

Exercise 1
Study the group of words given below. Identify them as determiners and adjectives and write them in their respective columns:
costly watch
my car
blunt pencil
wide road 
all winners
two chairs
thin man 
much pain
majestic building
ferocious animal
blue sky
black eyes
many students
five monkeys
empty bucket
some sugar
first row 
two ribbons
palatial house
enough money 
three students 
innumerable stars
little recovery
wet clothes 
pointed nib
clear sky

Determiners contain several classes of words which are as follows:
1. Articles (a, an, the)
2. Possessive Adjectives (my, his, her, your, our, its, their) 
3. Numerals (cardinal numbers: one, two, three, etc.; ordinal numbers: first, second, third, etc.)
‘A’, An’ and ‘The’ are called Articles. These are Determiners as well, because these do not describe nouns. ‘A’ and ‘An’ are called Indefinite Determiners, whereas The’ is called the Definite Determiner.

‘A’ is used:
1. before a word beginning with a consonant, e.g. a college, a candidate. 
2. before a word beginning with a vowel but having consonant sound, e.g. a university, a European, a uniform, one-eyed man, a one-rupee note.
3. before a word beginning with a sound ‘h’, provided it has more than one syllable, e.g. a historical building, a hotel, a heroic deed.

‘An’ is used:
1. before a word beginning with a vowel, eg. an ox, an eye, an apple. 
2. before a word beginning with a consonant but having a vowel sound, e.g. an M.A., an F.A., an M.P. 
3. before a word beginning with a silent ‘h’, e.g. an hour, an honest worker.

Exercise 2
Fill in the blanks with the determiners ‘a’ and ‘an’: 
1. Good children are……….. great blessing to their parents.
2. I found ………… bag on the road.
3. I have ………. headache.
4. I study for half ………. hour daily.
5. The cow is………… useful animal.
6. My father is………..S.P. 
7. Birds of …….  feather flock together.
8. I saw………. elephant in the street. 
9. That lady looks……….. air hostess.
10. Mohan is………. unimportant member of the club.

‘The’ is used:
1. before a Common Noun in the singular number to show a species or class, e.g. The lion is the king of the forest.
2. before a particular person or thing or the one already mentioned, e.g.
Let us go to the hostel. 
The pen you want has been lost.
3. before the names of sacred books, e.g. the Vedas, the Ramayana, the Quran.
4. before Nouns denoting a single thing of its kind, e.g. the Sun, the ocean. 
5. before a superlative degree, e.g. Time is the best healer.
6. before the names of rivers, seas, mountains, deserts, straits, gulfs, groups of islands, e.g. the Ganga, the Arabian Sea, the Himalayas, the Thar Desert.
7. before the names of ships, aeroplanes, trains, historical buildings, newspapers, journals, magazines, e.g. the Frontier Mail, the Times of India, the Taj Mahal.
8. before the names of directions, e.g. the East, the West, the North. 
9. before the names of parties, e.g. the Bhartiya Janata Party, the Congress.
10. before the organs of the body, e.g. the head, the heart.

Exercise 3
Fill in the blanks with the suitable determiners:
1. This is ……… student I was looking for. 
2. He was in ………… tearing hurry.
3. ……. man you saw yesterday is uncle of mine. 
4. I read ……. Times of India daily.
5…………. Bible, …… Gita and …….. Quran are sacred books.
6. I went to Shimla by ……….. Kalka Shatabdi Express.
7. Mohan is……….. brightest boy in our class. 
8. …………. Thar Desert is in Rajasthan, India.
9………… Sun rises in east and sets in West.
10. The pickpocket hit me on ……. chin.

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
Possessive Adjectives too fall under Determiners. These are seven in number. Possessive Adjectives are always followed by Nouns. These are called Possessive Adjectives because these indicate that particular thing belongs to someone.
For example, my pen, our house, your efforts, her car, her dress, its tail, their attempt.

Exercise 4
Fill in the blanks with the suitable possessive determiners given in the
brackets:
1. He is ………… (my, its) brother. 
2. The dog is wagging ………. (its, our) tail.
3. I have lost ………. (my, its) pen. 
4. ……… (Its, Our) house is made of white marble.
5. Mohan is talking to ………….. (his, its) sister rudely.
6. …………. (Its, Their) attempt proved to be an exercise in futility.
7. All the students returned to ………. (our, their) respective houses.
8. Mohan has injured ……….. (his, her) leg while playing hockey.
9. The child is playing with ……………. (our, its) doll.
10. We are responsible for ……….. (our, its) deeds.

NUMERALS
Numerals too fall under the class of determiners. Numerals are of two types: cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. One’, ‘two’, ‘three’ etc. are called cardinal numbers, whereas ‘first’, ‘second’, ‘third’ etc. are called ordinal numbers.

Exercise 5
Fill in the blanks with the correct numerals given in the brackets: (two, second) books.
1. He gave me ………….. 
2. Mohan was the ……………. (first, one) to reach the finishing line. 
3. This is the …………….. (third, three) edition of this book.
4. The ………………. (fourth, four) chapter of this book is interesting. 
5. The…………. (fifth, five) boy on the toppers’ list is my cousin.
6. There were …………….. (tenth, ten) books in the shelf. 
7. We are living in the …………… (twenty-first, twenty-one) century.
8. They celebrated their ……… (twenty-fifth, twenty-five) marriage anniversary with great pomp and show.
9. This is the………….. (third, three) time that you have committed the same blunder. 
10. I have………… (eight, eighth) fingers and ……….. (two, second) thumbs on two hands.

DETERMINERS OF QUANTITY AND NUMBER
‘Some’, ‘any’, ‘much’ and ‘many are the Determiners of Quantity and Number, because these express either quantity or number or both. ‘Some is used in affirmative sentences, whereas ‘any’ is used in negative sentences, but in interrogative sentences, usage of both is correct. Look at the following sentences:
1. He gave me some advice.
2. He didn’t give me any money. 
3. Will you please lend me some money?
4. Has he any money to give?
Note: Both ‘some’ and ‘any’ can be used as determiners of number as well as quantity. Look at the following sentences:
1. He gave me some books. 
2. She asked us if we had any questions.
Much’ denotes quantity whereas ‘many’ denotes number, e.g.
1. He gave me much money.
2. Many men attended the meeting.

Exercise 6
Fill in the blanks with the suitable determiners of quantity and number.
1. How ……… books do you have on this topic?
2. I have got…………… friends.
3. ……… teachers will tell you that students learn at different rates.
4. Are there……………. stamps?
5. ………………. people feel that the law should be changed. 
6. There are too ………… mistakes in this essay.
7. Would you like…………. milk in your coffee?
8. Have…………… more vegetables.
9. I don’t have……………… money with me.
10. How…………… water do you need?

Leave a Comment