Chapter 4 noun and noun phrase (2) Determiner and genitive
1. General information about determiners 1) Definition:
a) Determiners refer to the words which are used in the pre-modification of a noun phrase and which typically precede any adjectives that pre-modify the head word.
b) Determiners are a set of closed-class items that are used to determine nouns or noun phrases. 2) Function:
a) They may define the relationship of the noun or noun phrase to the speaker or listener e.g.
my students
their books
b) Identify the noun or noun phrase as specific or general e.g.
these boys (specific)
all the books (general)
c) Quantify the noun or noun phrase or quantify in general e.g.
these three boys (specific)
many boys (general)
3) Determiners and adjectives
Determiners and adjectives are different in a number of significant ways a) Determiners usually precede adjectives in pre-modification e.g.
a nice man
* nice a man
b) The choice of determiners is often determined by the noun as the head word, but not that of adjectives限定词受名词中心词的限制，但形容词虽然有时也受词汇意义的限制，但没有语法意义上的限制。 e.g.
many girls / much money
* little / much good people
c) Adjectives describe the head words by showing its characteristics, but determiners determine the head words by identifying or quantifying. e.g.
many good books
my old friends
d) Adjectives can post-modify the head word, but not the determiners e.g.
people old and young
* people few or many
e) Adjectives have comparative forms, inflectional 词尾变化(bigger, clever)or periphrastic迂回变化(more intelligent, more beautiful), but not the determiners (except few, little, many and much) 4) Classification of determiners
Determiners may co-occur in the pre-modification of a noun or noun phrase, that is, two or more
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determiners may modify one or the same head word. e.g.
all the students
all the three other students
so we identify 3 subclasses of determiners on the basis of their relative position in the case of co-occurrence: pre-determiners, central determiners and post-determiners Pre-determiners Central determiners Article: a /an /the/zero Post-determiners Cardinal numerals: one, Indefinite determiners: All, Demonstrative: this, that, these… two, three… both, half Possessive: my, your … Ordinal numerals: first, second, third… Multiple: double, twice, Genitive: the boy?s three times, etc. Fraction: two-thirds, etc. Indefinite determiners: any, each, General numerals: next, one-third, either, every, neither, no, some … last, past … Interrogative: what quantifiers: few, fewer, Exclamatory: What (a/an), Interrogative or relative: which, fewest, little, less, lest, such (a/an) Many (a /an) whose … Wh-determiners in many, much, more, most, –ever: several … Such Lots of, a great deal of … The position of the 3 kinds of determiners are fixed when they co-occur: Pre-determiners + central determiners + post-determiners e.g.
all the students
pre-determiner + central determiner pre-determiner + post-determiner central determiner + post-determiner
pre-determiner + central determiner + post-determiner
whichever, whatever… all other students the other students
all the three other determiners
Note: 1) pre-determiners or central determiners are mutually exclusive; that is, in one ore the same noun phrase, there could only one pre-determiner or one central determiner. e.g.
* all half the students
* all the his students
2) And as a matter of fact several determiners, like such, both are pre-determiners and post-determiners.
e.g. such a / an some such, no such, few such, one such. Additional information:
Collocation of determiners with nouns
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1) collocation of some determiners with singular, plural and mass nouns
The ,some , any, no, other, whose, possessive determiners like my, and genitive noun, like John?s Book and money
2)collocation of some determiners with only singular nouns a/an, one, another, each, every, either, neither, many a, such a 3) collocation of some determiners with only plural nouns
Both, two, three, another two/three, many, (a)few, several, these, those, a(great) number of 4) collocation of determiners with only mass nouns
A (little) bit of, a great amount of, a great deal of, a little, much 5) collocation of determiners with both singular and plural nouns The first, the second, the last , the next
6) collocation of determiners with singular and mass nouns This, that, (the) least
E.g. the least knowledge the least sign of prejudice This job this work
7)collocation of determiners with plural and mass nouns A lot of, lots of, plenty of, enough, more , most, such, other e.g. such men such bread 2. Usage of some determiners 1) “all” and “whole”
all and whole are near synonyms. e.g.
they stayed here all day. = they stayed here the whole day.
Differences:
a) All can modify all kinds of nouns: singular countable nouns, plural countable nouns, mass nouns and even proper nouns. e.g.
I didn?t see all the film.
They lost all hope of finding the survivors. * the whole money
b) When modifying a plural noun, all suggests the inclusion of all the members, which is equivalent to every, while whole points to the completeness or entirety of each individual group included. e.g.
She would work twelve hours a day all the years when she was at Cambridge.
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Whole regiments surrendered to the enemy.
c) When all is used to modify a noun that represents a place, it usually refers to all the people living in that place. But whole may refer to all its residents or refer to the place itself as a whole depending on the context. e.g.
all the village was excited at the news. (the whole of village / all the people in the village) the whole village was flooded. * All the village…
2) “all” and “both”
both, as a determiner, invariably modifies countable nouns, and refers to a group that consists of 2 members. But when the number is greater than two, all is used. 3) all, every and each
all suggests the whole group; every points to all the individual members of the group, and each focuses on each individual member of the group taken separately. e.g.
all the boys enjoyed themselves at the party.
Every boy enjoyed himself at the party. 意义相当于all the boys强调个体中的整体 Each boy got one present at the part.
（每个男孩都拿到一个礼物，不是所有的男孩拿到同一个礼物） 强调整体中的个体 d) both, each and neither
both, each and neither all bear the meaning of “two” or “one and the other”, and sometimes they can be used interchangeably in appropriate context. e.g.
there are shops on both sides / each side / either side of the street.
But when we wish to indicate each one of the two, each and either are to be used. e.g.
she sat watching TV with a child on each / either side of her. There is a chair at each / either end of the long table.
e) any, neither, no, none, and neither
any, no, and none refer to a group of more than two, but either and neither refer to a group of two. d) Others
another, other, others, the other:
another相对于三个以上群体中的“另一个” one …. the other…两者之中，一个…另一个…
other不能单用，用么前面加定冠词the，要么后面加名词 others = the rest表示其余的人或者事物
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e.g. other students
e.g. most:
he felt that all men should accept the responsibility of helping others.
注意区分most…和most of the…。前者是泛指，而后者是特指(most people, most of the people) 此外，most of people是错误的，most of后面的名词必须用定冠词表示特指概念。 e) phrases
counts for much /little /nothing anything but all but
很有/少有/没有价值 单单除了…之外，根本不 几乎，除了…都 如果有的话 不是别的，正是
if anything
none other than 3. Articles
We identify two articles in the English language: the definite article --- the, and the indefinite article --- a /an. Notes:
a) Anaphoric reference前照应，前指代:the uniqueness of reference of some phrase is supplied by information given earlier in the discourse. e.g.
I saw a cat in our garden and the cat was climbing up a tree. b) Cataphoric reference后照应，后指代:the use of the definite article in a context where what follows the head noun, rather than what precedes it enable us to pinpoint查明 the reference uniquely e.g.
The trees in the backyard were planted by our great grandfather. c) Sporadic reference不规则照应，偶然照应: the reference is made to an institution of human society which may be observed recurrently反复的，经常的 at various places and times e.g.
Mary goes to the theater every week. The theater可能是特指某个剧院或者影院，那这里的the表示specific reference，但也可能只是表示某个社团组织，是泛指（那就这个句子就可以提问一个问题，which theater?）而非特指。 有这种用法的还有：the television, the news, the radio, the press, the internet, the bus, the car, the train … 4. Genitives
One way of specifying something is by saying who or what it belongs to, e.g., Jonh?s car, a form that used to be termed a “possessive” as it denotes possession. The idea of possession can also
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