English majors and minors, year II, autumn 2009-2010

Lecture 5
Gender and noun formation
Gender: masculine, feminine, ersonal, and neuter
Gender is not an important grammatical category in English: unlike many European
languages, English has no masculine and feminine inflections for nouns or determiners.
Yet semantically, gender is an interesting and controversial topic: for example, how do
English speakers distinguish between male, female, and male-or-female reference Gender is
also an area where the language is changing. !his section discusses how to signal the gender
of nouns and pronouns.
"our semantic gender classes can be distinguished:
e!amle nouns ronouns
masculine Tom, a boy, the man he, him, his
feminine Sue, a girl, the woman she, her, hers
personal a journalist, the doctor who, someone
neuter a house, the fish it, what, which
"asculine nouns and pronouns refer primarily to male people.
#eminine nouns and pronouns refer primarily to female people.
$ersonal gender nouns and pronouns refer primarily to people, regardless of whether they
are female or male.
%euter gender nouns and pronouns refer primarily to inanimates #including abstractions$.
%owever, there are special circumstances where the boundaries of these categories
are fu&&y.
1 "asculine and feminine noun reference
!here are four ma'or ways of specifying masculine and feminine contrast in nouns:
using totally different nouns:
father(mother son(daughter uncle(aunt man(woman bull(cow
using derived nouns with masculine and feminine suffixes er/or and -ess:
actor(actress waiterwaitress master(mistress
using a modifier, such as male, female; man, woman, women:
male nurse female officer woman doctor male dancer women priests
using nouns in -man, -woman:
chairman nglishman policewoman spo!eswoman
#)n writing, masculine nouns consisting of noun * man look like compounds, but in
pronunciation, -man is more like a derivational suffix: it is pronounced +-m,n+ in both the
singular and the plural.$
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!he derivational endings er/or and -ess are not of e-ual status. .hile -ess always
has female reference, -er/or can be used for both sexes with personal gender words like
doctor and teacher. "urther, -ess can be added to a noun without -er/-or to form the female
variant: lionlioness; priestpriestess.
"eminine nouns in -ess are generally used less than their masculine counterparts,
because we usually use the masculine form when we do not know which sex the individual
is and for plurals when we may be referring to both males and females. !he most common
-ess nouns are princess, actress, mistress, duchess, waitress, countess, goddess, hostess,
and stewardess. %owever, all these are used less than their masculine counterparts
#prince, actor, master, du!e, etc.$.
/imilarly, most English speakers and writers use words ending in - man far more than
words ending in -woman. Even the most common words ending in -woman #spo!eswoman,
policewoman, chairwomen, businesswoman, congresswoman, horsewoman$ are used far
less than the corresponding words ending in -man #spo!esman, policeman, etc.$
2 Gender &ias in nouns
!here are two reasons for the preference of male terms over female terms:
/peakers and writers refer to males more fre-uently than to females.
!he masculine terms are often used to refer to both sexes. "or example, the masculine
nouns spo!esman and manager are used in the following sentences to refer to women:
yeline spokesman "osie #ohnson said: $%e don$t need a &ast sum, but without it we$ll be
forced to close'$
(rea manager )eth "obinson says: $*ur business in +inaghy has steadily increased year by
year'$
0oth these factors amount to a bias in favour of the masculine gender. .ith
reference to the second factor, it is traditionally argued that a term like chairman or
go&ernor has personal gender #i.e. is sex-neutral$ in addition to its masculine use. %owever,
the fact that such roles have typically been taken by men means that these terms have
strong masculine overtones.
)n recent decades, efforts have been made to avoid masculine bias by using gender-
neutral nouns in -person instead of -man or -woman. "or example:
,rs "uddoc! said she had been nominated as spo!esperson for the wi&es'
Salespersons by the thousands ha&e been laid off in the recession'
%owever, this trend has had limited success so far. .ords in -person #or their plurals
in -persons or -people$ are rare compared with the corresponding words in -man or -men.
!he only moderately common words of this kind are chairperson-s., spo!esperson-s.,
salespeople, and townspeople' #1ote that both -people and -persons are used in the plural.$
'he formation of deri(ed nouns
2erived nouns are formed from other words by means of affixation #prefixes and
suffixes$, conversion, and compounding.
1 )ffi!ation
2erivational prefixes do not normally alter the word class of the base word3 that is, a
prefix is added to a noun to form a new noun with a different meaning:
&ase noun refi!ed noun
patient outpatient #a patient who is not resident in a hospital$
group subgroup #a group which is part of a larger group$
trial retrial #another trial of the same person for the same crime$
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2erivational suffixes, on the other hand, usually change both the meaning and the
word class3 that is, a suffix is often added to a verb or ad'ective to form a new noun with a
different meaning:
&ase *ord suffi!ed noun
ad'ective: dar! dar!ness
verb: agree agreement
noun: friend friendship
) %oun refi!es
!he following list shows some of the more fre-uent prefixes, and indicates the typical
meaning signaled by each prefix.
$refi! main meaning+s, e!amles
anti- against, opposite to antibody, anticlima/
arch- supreme, most arch-enemy, archbishop
auto- self autobiography, autograph
bi- two bicentenary, bilingualism
bio- of living things biochemistry, biomass
co- 'oint co-chairman, co-founder
counter- against counteract counterclaim
dis- t he opposi t e of disbelief, discomfort
e/- former e/-,ar/ist, e/-student
fore- ahead, before forefront, fore!nowledge
hyper- extreme hyperinflation
in- inside, or the opposite of inpatient, inattention
inter- between, among interaction, intermarriage
!ilo- a thousand !ilobyte, !ilowatt
mal-- bad malfunction, malnutrition
mega- a million, supreme megawatt, megastar
mini- small minibus, mini-publication
mis- bad, wrong misconduct, mismatch
mono- one monopoly, monosyllable
neo- new neomar/ist, neo-colonialism
non- not nonpayment, non-specialist
out- outside, separate outpatient, outbuilding
poly- many polysyllable, polytheism
re- agai n, back re-election, re-organi0ation
semi- half semicircle, semi-dar!ness
sub- below subgroup, subset
super- more than, above, l arge superhero, supermar!et
tele- distant telephone, teleshopping
tri- three tricycle, tripartism
ultra- beyond ultrafilter, ultrasound
under- below, too little underclass, underachie&ement
&ice- deputy #second in command$ &ice-chairman, &ice-president
- %oun suffi!es
/uffixes tend to have less specific meanings than prefixes. Grammatically speaking,
their main role is to signal a change of word class, so that #for example$ if you meet a word
ending in -ism, -ness, or -tion, you can recogni&e it as a noun. %owever, some suffixes are
ambiguous: e.g. -al and -ful can mark an ad'ective as well as a noun. 1ote that the process
of derivation can bring a change in the pronunciation or spelling of the base word: for
example, when we add -cy to infant, the whole word is spelt infancy, not 4infantcy.
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!he symbols 5, 6, and 1 in the list below show whether the noun is derived from a
verb, an ad'ective, or another noun. !hose that are derived from verbs and ad'ectives are
said to be nominali&ations. 7ost derived nouns are abstract in meaning.
.uffi! main meaning+s, e!amles
-age #various meanings$ baggage, wastage, postage, orphanage
-a+ action or instance of 5-ing arri&al, burial, denial, proposal
-an, -ian nationality, language, etc. (merican, historian, 1orean, 2ictorian
-ance, -ence action or state of 5-ing, assistance, resemblance, e/perience
-ant, -ent a person who 5-s, something assistant, consultant, student,
used for 5-ing coolant, into/icant, lubricant
-cy state or -uality of being 6+1 accuracy, ade3uacy, infancy, lunacy
-dom state of being 6+1 boredom, freedom, stardom, wisdom
-ee a person #various meanings$ absentee, de&otee, employee, trainee
-er, -or a person+thing that 5-s, actor, dri&er, filler, teacher, &isitor
a person connected with 1 footballer, cottager, 4ew 5or!er
-ery, -ry #various non-personal meanings$ ba!ery, bra&ery, refinery, robbery
-ese nationality or language 6hinese, #apanese, journalese
-ess a female 1 actress, baroness, tigress, waitress
-ette a small 1 cigarette, !itchenette, no&elette
-ful amount that fills a 1 handful, mouthful, spoonful
-hood state of being 6+1 childhood, falsehood, li!elihood
-ician person concerned with 1 clinician, mathematician, physician
-ie, -y a pet name for 1 auntie, daddy, doggie, #ohnny
-ing action+instance of 5-ing, feeling, meeting, reading, training
place or material building, crossing, landing, lining
-ism ideology, movement, tendency atheism, criticism, capitalism, ,ar/ism
-ist follower of 1+6-ism, specialist atheist, capitalist, racist, physicist
-ite citi&en or follower of 1 ,oabite, ,usco&ite, Thatcherite
-ity state or -uality of being 6 ability, acti&ity, density, insanity
-let a small 1 bomblet, boo!let, leaflet, piglet
-ment action or instance of 5-ing argument, mo&ement, statement,
treatment
-ness state or -uality of being 6 blindness, dar!ness, fairness, happiness
-ship state or skill of being a 1 friendship, membership, relationship
-tion action or instance of 5-ing communication, education, production
-ure action or instance of 5-ing closure, departure, e/posure, pressure
6part from -er, the most fre-uent noun suffixes are all abstract: -tion, -ity, -ness,
-ism, -ment. )n general, these suffixes are far more fre-uent and productive in academic
writing than in the other registers.
2 /on(ersion
6nother way to derive nouns from other word classes is known as conversion #or
8&ero derivation8$. )n this case, no affix is added to the base, but the base itself is converted
into a different word class, usually from a verb or ad'ective into a noun.
/on(erted nouns
con(ersion from &ase meaning+s, of con(erted noun e!amle of con(erted noun
ad'ectives #6$ hopeful someone who is 6 presidential hopefuls
white someone who is 6 they spea! li!e the whites do in the
South
something that is 6 you could see the whites of his eyes
verbs #5$ catch act of 5-ing he too! a brilliant catch 7sport9
something that is 5-ed they had a fine catch of fish
something used for 5-ing he loosened the catch and
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opened the window
cheat someone who 5-s ''' accused him of being a cheat
wal! act of 5-ing we can go for a walk later
way of 5-ing the walk of a gentleman
place for 5-ing the walk stretched for 89: miles
0 /omounding
6nother very productive process is the formation of compound nouns. :ommon
patterns of compounding are the following #note that the parts of the compound can be
written as a single word, or else hyphenated or written as two words$:
structural attern e!amles
;a noun * noun barcode, bathroom, database, eye-witness, lamp post, logjam,
newspaper, shell-fish, suitcase, wallpaper
;b noun * verb+noun gunfire, handsha!e, home run, landslide, moonwal!
;c noun* verb-er dishwasher, dressma!er, eye-opener, firefighter, screwdri&er
;d noun * verb-ing fire-fighting, house!eeping, than!sgi&ing, window shopping
;e verb+noun * noun coo!boo!, dipstic!, playboy, swimsuit, &olleyball
;f self * noun self-control, self-esteem, self-help, self-indulgence, self-pity
;g verb-ing * noun filing cabinet, filling station, moc!ingbird, printing- press
< ad'ective * noun bigwig, blac!bird, grandmother, highway, real estate
= verb * particle chec!out, feedbac!, fly-o&er, go-between, handout, standby
> particle * verb+noun bystander, downturn, in-fighting, outfit, o&ercoat, up!eep

1oun * noun combinations are the most productive type of noun compound. )n fact,
?atterns ;a-g above can all be considered as special cases of noun * noun compounds.
1oun compounds are especially common in news writing, where they help to pack a lot of
information into a small space.
1eterminers
2eterminers are function words used to specify the kind of reference a noun has. 6s
the table below shows, determiners vary in the kind of noun head they occur with: the three
classes in -uestion are countable singular noun, countable plural noun, and uncountable
noun.
2o* determiners com&ine *ith nouns
determiner tye
counta&le nouns
uncounta&le
nouns +singular,
singular nouns lural nouns
&ero article ( boo!s mil!
indefinite article a boo! ( (
definite article the boo! the boo!s the mil!
possessive my/your boo! my/your boo!s my/your mil!
demonstrative this boo! these boo!s this mil!
that boo! those boo!s that mil!
-uantifier e&ery ; each boo! ( (
( all -the. boo!s all -the. mil!
( many boo!s much mil!
( some boo!s some mil!
( -a. few boo!s -a. little mil!
( enough boo!s enough mil!
( se&eral boo!s (
either / neither boo! both boo!s (
any boo! any boo!s any mil!
no boo! no boo!s no mil!
numeral one boo! two+three books (
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!here are other determiners, not shown in this table: e.g. a lot of, and the wh-words
what, which, and whose. !he determiner slot can also be filled by genitives #e.g. Tanya$s$.
/ometimes more than one determiner occurs in the same noun phrase: e.g. all the
boo!s' )n such cases, the determiners occur in a fixed order, and for this purpose we
distinguish between central determiners #the most common type$, predeterminers #which
precede central determiners when both occur$ and postdeterminers #which follow central
determiners$. !hese are shown in the following table.
2o* determiners com&ine *ith one another
redeterminers central
determiner
ostdeterminers head
+1, +2,
all the four -races.
all those other -guys.
both these -problems.
half a -cup.
half the -si0e.
twice/double the -si0e.
the many/few -occasions.
her first -marriage.
the last two -years.
the other two -fellows.
!he different slots for determiners are summari&ed in the following table:
redeterminers central determiners ostdeterminers +slot 1, ostdeterminers +slot 2,
all, both, half articles ordinal numerals cardinal numerals
multipliers like
double, twice
demonstrative determiners semi-determiners like
same, other, ne/t
-uantifying determiners
possessive determiners
1 1eterminer (s3 noun
:ollective, unit, -uantifying, and species nouns behave in a similar way to
-uantifying determiners and semi-determiners like a few, a little, a lot of, and such. @ike
these determiners, expressions like a load of, a couple of, and a !ind of -ualify a following
noun in terms of -uantity or type. :ompare:
%e !new masses of people'
There$re so many people in that place'
/imilarly, this sort of food is e-uivalent in meaning to such food, except that sort of
occurs more in speech, and such more in writing.
)n some ways, it is the noun following of, rather than the -uantifying noun, that
behaves like the head of the noun phrase in these expressions.
2 1eterminer (s3 ronoun
!here is also a strong parallel between the different types of determiner and the
different types of pronoun. !he main correspondences are shown in the following table.
?ronouns lack the referential content provided by a noun head, and therefore they depend
much more on context for their interpretation than determiners.
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/lasses of determiners and ronouns
determiner class ronoun class general name
the definite article: the personal pronouns: you, he,
she, it, etc.
possessive determiners: your, his, her,
its, etc.
possessive pronouns: yours, his,
hers, its, etc.
possessives
demonstrative determiners: this, that, these,
those
demonstrative pronouns: this, that,
these, those
demonstratives
-uantifying determiners: all, some, any,
no, etc.
indefinite pronouns: all, some,
any, none, etc.
-uantifiers
0 'he articles
!he most common determiners are the articles the and a+an, which signal definite
and indefinite meaning. .hen no determiner occurs before the noun, it is useful to say that
there is a &ero article.
!he definite article and the indefinite article both take a different spoken form when
the word begins with a vowel:
+,+ a house, a <+*
+,n+ an apple, an hour= an ,>
+ , + the house, the union
+ i+ the apple, the hour, the other day
1otice that spelling can be misleading: some words beginning with u have an initial
consonant sound +'u:..+, and a few words beginning with a 8silent8 h have an initial vowel
sound.$ !he spelling an is used when the following word begins with a vowel sound.
6rticles are much less common in conversation than in writing. !his is largely
because conversation uses many pronouns, which generally do not need articles. )n
contrast, the written registers use many more nouns, resulting in many more articles.
Indefinite meanings e!ressed &y a/an
!he indefinite article a/an is used only with singular countable nouns. )t narrows
down the reference of the head noun to one indefinite member of the class.
) .ecific use of a/an
!he indefinite article is often used to introduce a new specific entity into the
discourse:
; A 12-year-old boy got mad at his parents +riday night because they refused to let him
go fishing on the 6olorado "i&er with relati&es' So, while his parents were distracted
during a barbecue with eight adult friends, he slipped away from his sister and three
brothers, snatched the !eys to a 2ol!swagen )eetle and dro&e off in one of his parent$s four
cars, prompting fears that he had been !idnapped' l 6ajon police sent teletype
descriptions of the curly haired, 90-pound si/th-grader to law enforcement agencies
throughout Southern 6alifornia and the (ri0ona border area' The boy was found
unharmed - but scared and sleepy - at about noon yesterday by San ?iego 6ounty
sheriffs deputies'
)n ;, the indefinite article a -8@-year-old boy. introduces a specific, but unnamed and
unknown boy3 afterwards the boy is referred to by pronouns -him, he. and definite noun
phrases -the curly haired, AB-pound si/th-grader and the boy.'
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- 4nsecific use of a/an
!he indefinite article is also used where the noun phrase does not refer to any
specific individual:
2 ;$m loo!ing for a millionaire, she says, but ; don$t see any around'
3 $; feel terrible' ; need a friend'$
)n < and =, a millionaire and a friend are unspecific and mean 8any person of that kind8.
/ /lassifying or generic use of a/an
!he indefinite article can also serve to classify an entity, as in >, or to refer
generically to what is typical of any member of the class, as in A:
4 ,y husband is a doctor. Bclassifying9
5 A doctor is not better than his patient' Bgeneric9
Generic reference is described below.
Indefinite meaning *ith the 5ero article
@ike a/an with singular countable nouns, the &ero article signals indefiniteness with
uncountable nouns #;$ and plural countable nouns #<$:
1 %e ha&e wine on the table girls, drin! it'
2 %e ha&e telephones and we tal! to people'
!he reference here is to an indefinite number or amount #often e-uivalent to some.'
Cero article phrases commonly express non-specific or generic reference. 0ut there
are also some special uses of the &ero article with singular countable nouns, where
otherwise we expect the or a+an to occur.
) "eals as institutions
(re they going out for dinner or somethingC
@ike a/an with singular countable nouns, the &ero article signals indefiniteness with
uncountable nouns #;$ and plural countable nouns #<$:
3 %e ha&e wine on the table girls, drin! it'
4 %e ha&e telephones and we tal! to people'
!he reference here is to an indefinite number or amount #often e-uivalent to some$.
- $laces as institutions
The ceremony too! place in church.
They are prepared to go to ail for their cause'
/ $redicati(es *ith uni6ue reference
.hen a predicative noun phrase names a uni-ue role or 'obs either a 5ero article or
the is used:
!ukman was re-elected "#$% president in 4o&ember' Bwith &ero article9
Simon )urns is the chairman of the appeal fund. Bwith theD
1 "eans of transort and communication
!he &ero article here is found mainly after the preposition by:
tra&el by air/car/horse/rail
send by mail/post/e-mail/satellite link
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E 'imes of the day, days, months, and seasons
Tomorrow at dawn well begin our journey'
%hen winter comes in 8@ wee!s, they will free0e'
# $arallel structures
!he &ero article sometimes occurs in parallel structures like D and Y or from D to Y,
where D and Y are identical or contrasting nouns:
Ee tra&elled from country to country.
Than!fully, it has turned out all right for mother and baby.
This broadly relates to communications between lawyer and client.
Examples of this kind are often fixed phrases, like eye to eye, face to face, from start to
finish'
G -loc7 language
!he &ero article is normal with noun phrases in block language, that is, abbreviated
language used in newspaper headlines, labels, lists, notices #e.g. entrance, way out, etc.$
:ompare:
&ire !ills teenager after hoa'. Bthe headline9
A teenager died in a bla(e at his home after firemen were di&erted by a call that turned
out to be a student prank. Bthe news story following the headline9
1otice the headline uses the &ero article for fire, teenager, and hoa/, which are then
mentioned in the news story as a bla0e, a teenager, and a student pran!'
2 8ocati(es
!he &ero article also occurs in forms of address #vocatives$:
4o hard feelings, )octor.
?o you want that, baby*
.ith all these special uses of the &ero article, it is worth noting that the same types
of noun can occur with the definite article, when a more specific meaning is intended:
6 )ye bye, dear, than!s for the lunch.
0 +he church ser&es a population of 8F,BBB'
2 She too! the train to the campus'
'he definite article the
The goes with both countable and uncountable nouns. )t marks the noun as referring
to something or someone assumed to be known to speaker and addressee #or writer and
reader$.
) )nahoric use of the
6fter unknown entities have been introduced, they can be treated as 8known8 and
named by the in later references:
; A 12-year-old boy got mad at his parents +riday night and dro&e off in one of
his parent$s four cars' l 6ajon police sent teletype descriptions of the curly haired,
AB-pound si/th-grader to law enforcement agencies throughout Southern 6alifornia
and the (ri0ona border area' +he boy was found unharmed'
!his is called anaphora: the phrase with the refers back to a previously mentioned
item.
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- Indirect anahoric use of the
)n indirect anaphora, the earlier noun is not repeated, but an associated noun is used
with the:
< +he ,ercedes too! a hard bounce from a pothole' $6hrist,$ said Sherman, ;
didn$t e&en see that'$ Ee leaned forward o&er the steering wheel. +he headlights
shot across the concrete columns in a delirium'
.e know that cars have a steering wheel and headlights, so after the 7ercedes has
been mentioned, Ethe steering wheel8 and 8the headlights8 can be treated as known.
/ 4se of the *ith synonyms
/ometimes, indirect anaphora involves the use of a different noun referring to the
same thing or person:
= Ee found her blue &ord $scort in the car par!' +he -ehicle was loc!ed and the
lights were off'
.e know that the "ord Escort is a vehicle, and so 8the vehicle8 can be treated as
known. 6 second example is the shift from a 8@-year-old boy to the curly haired, AB-pound
si/th-grader in ; above.
1 /atahoric use of the
:ataphora can be thought of as the opposite of anaphora. %ere definite reference is
established by something following later in the text, especially some modifier #marked F G
here$ of the noun:
> (nother potential &oter starts to tell them about the car Gthat went through his garden
wallH'
A merson admitted that he felt li!e 3uitting for the rest Gof the seasonH'
)n > the defining postmodifier is a relative clause3 in A it is an of- phrase.
E .ituational use of the
The often occurs because an entity is known from the situation: either the immediate
situation in which speech takes place, or the wider situation which includes knowledge of
the national situation, the world, or even the universe.
6 + thin! there$s somebody at the door now' Bimmediate situation9
7 They get money off the go-ernment, don$t theyC Bwider situation9
/ometimes a speaker assumes situational knowledge that the hearer does not have,
and so has to clarify the reference:
H (: 6ould you get me from the shelf the blac! felt penC
): .hich shelf*
(: The big one.
# 9ther uses of the
!he above are the ma'or uses of the definite article, but definiteness depends on
assumed shared knowledge in the minds of speaker and addressee, so some uses of the
are more difficult to explain:
I 6 woman and a child had a narrow escape yesterday when their car left the road' +he
accident happened at about A'@9 am at ,ar!s Tey, near 6olchester'
%ere the reader has to infer that the event described in the first sentence is an
accident !his type of usage is similar to indirect anaphora, except that we cannot point to a
Anca Cehan 2009 10
particular noun, like ,ercedes in < above, which explains the later use of the headlights,
etc.
6lso, some uses of the are idiomatic, as part of a fixed phrase: e.g. in the main, by
the way, at the end of the day, etc.
"inally, the can be used for generic reference, as in Ee plays the trumpet.
!o conclude:
/ituational the is common only in conversation, where speakers rely on the context that they
share with hearers.
6naphoric the is common in all registers.
:ataphoric the is heavily concentrated in non-fiction writing3 it is associated with complex
noun phrases.
Generic reference
Jeference is generic when a noun phrase refers to the whole class, rather than 'ust
one or more instances of the class. )n English all three articles # a/an, the, and &ero$ can be
used for generic reference:
indefinite article: A doctor is not better than his patient'
&ero article: )octors are not better than their patients'
definite article: +he doctor is not better than his patient'
6ll three of these sentences can be understood to express a general truth about the
class of people called doctors #although the last example could also be about a particular
doctor$.
(/an is used generically with singular countable nouns, and designates Eany person or
thing of the class8.
!he &ero article is used generically with plural and uncountable nouns, and refers to
the class as a whole:
They$re &ery nice, cats are'
/eer is, 3uite rightly, )ritain$s fa&ourite +riday night drin!'
)n general, the is used generically only with singular countable nouns:
+he trumpet is a particularly &aluable instrument for the contemporary composer.
6omprehension depends on the reader0s ability to remember all the words in the
sentence.
9ther determiners
!here are several other subclasses of determiners.
1 $ossessi(e determiners
?ossessive determiners specify the noun phrase by relating it to the speaker+ writer
or other entities. !he possessive determiners correspond to personal pronouns:
possessive determiner my our your his her its their
personal pronoun + we you he she it they
?ossessive determiners make noun phrases definite:
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1 ,y brain was scarcely wor!ing at all'
2 She didn$t want to spoil her shoes'
3 4e&er hit your younger sister'
"or example, her shoes in < refers to the shoes belonging to the specific woman, and not
anyone else.
2 1emonstrati(e determiners
!he demonstrative determiners this/these and that/those are similar to the definite
article the in conveying definite meaning. %owever, they also specify whether the referent is
singular or plural #this vs. these$ and whether the referent is 8near8 or 8distant8 in relation to
the speaker:
counta&le
uncounta&le singular
singular lural
near
distant
this boo!
that boo!
these boo!s
those boo!s
this money
that money
)n general, this/these are about twice as common as that/those. 0y far the highest
fre-uency of this/these is in academic writing, where these forms are useful especially for
anaphoric reference.
@ike the, the demonstrative determiners can make the reference clear either by
pointing to the situation #situational reference$, or by referring to the neighbouring text(
either preceding #anaphoric reference$ or following #cataphoric reference$.
) .ituational reference
/ituational reference is very common in conversation, where the choice between
this/these and that/those reflects the speaker8s perception of whether the referent is near or
distant:
This ca!e$s lo&ely' Bthe speaker is eating the cake9
Ioo! at that man sitting there' Bthe man is sitting some distance away9
!he choice of determiner can also reflect emotional distance: this/these can express
greater sympathy than that/those:
5ou !now ; actually 3uite li!e this chap'
(: They$re still holding those guysC %e should ha&e just bombed them hard right then'
(s soon as they tried to pull that hostage mo&e'
): Those bastards'Bnote: bastards is a taboo word and may be offensive to some
people9
- 'ime reference
6lthough the basic situational use of demonstratives is in reference to place
#compare here/there$, another kind of situational use refers to time #compare now/then$:
They$re buying a house this year in +rance' Bthe present year9
They started at nursery that summer' Ba summer in the past9
/ )nahoric reference
)n writing, demonstratives typically refer back to the preceding text:
;n 8FF@ E' %eber ga&e Ga set of postulates for abstract groups of finite orderH' +hese
postulates are essentially those in use today'
)n this example, these postulates in the second sentence refers back to a set of
postulates in the first sentence.
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1 /atahoric reference
@ike cataphoric the, cataphoric that and those are used where a modifier following
the head specifies the reference of the head noun. )n these examples, the modifier is a
relative clause, marked by F G:
The unit of heat was defined as that 3uantity Gwhich would raise the temperature of unit
mass of water'
%e apologise to those readers Gwho did not recei&e the Juardian on SaturdayH
%ere that and those are formal in style, and do not express 8distant8 meaning, !hey
could be replaced by the.
E Introductory this/these
!here is a special conversational use of this+these to introduce a new entity into a
narrative:
%e went to this mall where there was this +rench restaurant'
:30 ;uantifying determiners +6uantifiers,
/ome determiners specify nouns in terms of -uantity or amount and are therefore
called -uantifying determiners #or simply -uantifiers$:
*ith uncounta&le nouns<<<<*ith counta&le nouns
all money all girls
much money many girls
#Kuantifying pronouns are related forms with similar meanings.$
Kuantifiers can be broadly divided into four types:
) Inclusi(e
/ome inclusive -uantifiers are: all, both, each, e&ery' (ll refers to the whole of a
group or mass3 both refers to two entities, and goes with a plural noun:
The testing of all hens will continue to be compulsory'
)oth amendments were defeated'
ach and e&ery refer to all the individual members of a group but, in contrast to all
combine only with singular countable nouns. Each stresses the separate individual, e&ery
stresses the individual as a member of the group. ach can denote two or more, while
e&ery denotes three or more.
%e ha&e two stations, but two people can wor! at each station'
&ery minute of e&ery day, hundreds of millions of tonnes of coal are burned'
- Large 6uantity
,any and much denote a large -uantity: many with plural countable nouns, and
much with uncountable nouns. !hey are used especially with negatives, interrogatives, and
some combinations such as &ery much/many, so many/ much, too many/much, a great
many, a good many:
There weren$t many people there'
There are so many other girls wearing e/actly the same thing'
The girl wasn$t paying much attention'
Lther determiners signifying a large amount are multi-word units, like a lot of, lots of,
plenty of, a great/good deal of. ( lot of and lots of often replace much and many in casual
speech:
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There were lots of people going through the tills'
$Ee$s had a lot of trouble'$
)n fact, much and many would be odd in these informal contexts.
/ "oderate or small 6uantity
Some usually denotes a moderate -uantity and is used with countable and
uncountable nouns:
;nsurance shares produced some e/citement'
Some performance cur&es will now be presented'
2eterminers denoting a small -uantity are:
lural counta&le uncounta&le
a small number+amount a few, se&eral a little, a bit of
less than expected few -fewer, fewest. little -less, least.
( few and a little are used to indicate a small amount:
%ith a little care he had no difficulty whate&er in putting his glass bac! on the table'
There were a few people sitting at the tables in the bac!'
+ew and little #without a$ mean 8not many8 and 8not much8.
2ery few women ha&e hair that$s that short'
That$s why ; disli!e plans because so much time is spent planning and so little time is
spent doing anything'
1 )n ar&itrary or negati(e indi(idual or amount
(ny denotes an arbitrary member of a group, or an arbitrary amount of a mass.
ither has a similar meaning, but it is used to denote a member of a group of two, and
occurs only with singular countable nouns:
There aren$t any women'
Jot any moneyC
There were no applications for bail for either defendant'
6s these examples suggest, any and either usually occur with negatives or
-uestions. Ln the other hand, no and neither have a purely negative meaning: no is used
for countables as well as uncountables, and neither is used for a choice of two:
4e/t time there would be no mercy'
1either method is entirely satisfactory' Bcomparing two methods9
!here will be more to say about the relations between some, any, and no, and
between either and neither, under the headings of negation, and assertive and non-
assertive forms.
: %umerals as determiners
:ardinal numerals #like two$ are similar to -uantifiers, while ordinal numerals #like
second$ are similar to the semi-determiners. @ike most -uantifiers, numerals can occur in
determiner position or in head position in a noun phrase:
5ou owe me ten bucks, ,ary'
Tomorrow ; ha&e to get up at se&en'
.hen the two types occur together in one noun phrase, ordinal numerals normally
precede cardinal numerals:
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The first three pages were stuc! together with the young man$s blood'
1otice also that the numerals can follow the definite article - in fact this is normal
with ordinal numerals.
!he alphabetic form #fi&e, twenty, etc.$ is most common with numbers under ten, and
with round numbers such as a hundred. !he digital form # 9, @B, etc.$ is more common with
higher numbers:
Iast year, 232 wor!s were sold to 410 people in four days'
Lrdinal numbers, however, are more commonly written with the alphabetic form
#fifteenth rather than 89
th
$.
5 .emi-determiners
)n addition to the determiners so far mentioned, words like same, other, another, last,
and such have some ad'ective characteristics and some determiner characteristics. !hese
forms lack the descriptive meaning that characteri&es most ad'ectives, and like most
determiners, they can also double as pronouns. .e call these words semi-determiners:
+he same person was there with almost e/actly the same message'
; saw how one fist beat into the palm of the other hand behind his bac!'
Ee$s li&ing with her and another girl, and another boy'
+ would li!e to thin! that this is not his last *lympics'
5uch functions are not symmetrical'
= .h-determiners
.h-determiners are used to introduce interrogative clauses #;$ and relative
clauses #<$:
1 .hich way are we goingC
2 ; had a girl whose dog was the bridesmaid'
!hese will be illustrated further in discussing interrogative clauses and relative clauses.
!o conclude:
!he most common determiners are the definite and indefinite articles -the and a/an.'
!here is also a &ero article, used with plural or uncountable nouns for indefinite
meaning.
6ll three articles can be used to express generic meaning #referring to a class as a
whole$.
?redeterminers precede determiners in a noun phrase3 postdeterminers follow
determiners.
?ossessive and demonstrative determiners are definite in meaning #like the.
,
whereas
-uantifying determiners are indefinite in meaning #like a/an.'
1umerals #cardinal and ordinal numbers$ are grammatically like a class of determiners.
Kuantifying determiners and -uantifying pronouns usually have the same form #e.g.
all, few.' .e call both of them -uantifiers.
/emi-determiners, such as -the. same and another have characteristics of both
determiners and ad'ectives.
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