Numerals and Determiners

Numerals are determiners when they appear before a noun. In this position, cardinal numerals express quantity:

one book
two books
twenty books

In the same position, ordinal numerals express sequence:

first impressions
second chance
third prize

The subclass of ordinals includes a set of words which are not directly related to numbers (as first is related to one, second is related to two, etc). These are called general ordinals, and they include last, latter, next, previous, and subsequent. These words also function as determiners:

next week
last orders
previous engagement
subsequent developments

When they do not come before a noun, as we've already seen, numerals are a subclass of nouns. And like nouns, they can take determiners:

the two of us
the first of many

They can even have numerals as determiners before them:

five twos are ten

In this example, twos is a plural noun and it has the determiner five before it.

Pronouns and Determiners

There is considerable overlap between the determiner class and the subclass of pronouns. Many words can be both:

As this table shows, determiners always come before a noun, but pronouns are more independent than this. They function in much the same way as nouns, and they can be replaced by nouns in the sentences above:

On the other hand, when these words are determiners, they cannot be replaced by nouns:

The personal pronouns (I, you, he, etc) cannot be determiners. This is also true of the possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his/hers, ours, and theirs). However, these pronouns do have corresponding forms which are determiners:

The definite and the indefinite articles can never be pronouns. They are always determiners.

The Ordering of Determiners

Determiners occur before nouns, and they indicate the kind of reference which the nouns have. Depending on their relative position before a noun, we distinguish three classes of determiners.

A sentence like this is somewhat unusual, because it is rare for all three determiner slots to be filled in the same sentence. Generally, only one or two slots are filled.

Predeterminers

Predeterminers specify quantity in the noun which follows them, and they are of three major types:

1. "Multiplying" expressions, including expressions ending in times:

twice my salary
double my salary
ten times my salary

2. Fractions

half my salary
one-third my salary

3. The words all and both:

all my salary
both my salaries

Predeterminers do not normally co-occur:

*all half my salary

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1276