Reading Note Making - Revision Notes 3

 CBSE Class 11 English Core

Section C
Grammar Practice 1

DETERMINERS:

Determiner is a word that is used before a noun in order to show which thing you mean. In the phrases ‘the car’ and ‘some cars’, ‘the’ and ‘some’ are determiners.

-A word such as the, some, my etc. that comes before a noun to show how the noun is being used.

List of the Determiners:

  1. Articles (a, an & the)
  2. Distributive (each, every, either), Demonstrative (this, that, these, those), Quantifiers

(little, some, any, few), Possessive (our, your, my), Interrogatives (what, which, whose), all, both, half, many, one fifth, one tenth, two third, cardinal numbers & ordinal numbers.

Examples:

The indefinite article (Before Noun = singular, countable & common).

-> The form ‘a’ is used before a word beginning with a consonant, or a vowel with a consonant sound:
* A man
* A hat
* A European
* A one-way street

-> The form ‘an’ is used before words beginning with a vowel or words beginning with a mute h:
* An apple
* An onion
* An hour
* An L-plate
* An MP
* An SOS
* An M.A.

-> Before a singular, countable noun.
* I need a visa.
* He bought an ice-cream.

-> Before a singular noun which is used an example of a class.
* A car must be insured = All cars/Any cars must be insured.
* A child needs healthy nourishment = All children need/ any children needs healthy nourishment.

-> With a noun complement.
* It is an earthquake.
* She’ll be a dancer.

-> In certain expressions of quantity.
A lot of, a couple, a great many, a great deal of, a dozen etc.

-> With certain numbers.
a hundred, a thousand, a kilo and a half, a third, a quarter.

-> In expressions of price, speed, ratio etc.
5p a kilo, L 1 a meter, 10p a dozen, for times a day (Here a/an = per)

-> In exclamations before singular, countable nouns:
Such a long queue!
What a pretty girl!

-> A Mr. Shaw (= a man called ‘Shaw’ and implies that he is a stranger to the speaker.) Without ‘a’ implies that the speaker knows Mr. Shaw or knows of his existence.

-> The: (the definite article)

-> The object or group of objects is unique:
- The earth, the sea, the sky, the equator.

-> Before a noun which has become definite as a result of being mentioned a second time:
- His car struck a tree; you can still see the mark on the tree.

-> Before a noun made definite by the addition of a phrase or clause:
- The girl in blue.
-the boy that I met.
- The man with the banner.

-> Before superlatives:
- The first week.
- The best day.
- The only way.

-> The + singular noun = a class of animals or things.
- The whale is in danger of becoming extinct.
-The deep-freeze has made life easier for housewives.

-> The old = old people in general.

-> Before the names of seas, rivers, groups of islands, chains of mountain, plural names of countries, deserts, and regions.
- the Atlantic, the Netherlands, the Thames, the Himalayas, the Sahara, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian sea, the United States of America.

-> The + plural surname = the ...... family
The Clintons = Mr. and Mrs. Clinton (and children)

-> ‘The’ is not used before bed, church, court, hospital, prison, school/ college/university, when these places are visited or used for their primary purpose.
- We go to bed/in bed.
- We go to school/at school.

  • Demonstratives:
    1. This beach is quite beautiful.
    2. That ground is nearest to our school.
    3. These people come from Latin America.
  • Distributives:
    1. Each child assembles his or her project.
    2. She had a bottle in each hand.
    3. You can park on either side of the street.
    4. I could hear every word they said.
  • Interrogatives:
    1. Whose car broke down?
    2. Which horse won?
    3. What paper do you read?
  • Possessives:
    1. The girls are with their brother.
    2. Mary’s father is her father.
    3. She changed her shoes.
    4. Hand your papers in.
  • Quantifiers: Little, Few, Some, Any.

A) Little: before uncountable (Not much, almost nothing)

Examples:

  1. There is little doubt in my mind. (Not much), have almost the force of a negative.
  2. Sugar? ~ A little, please (A small amount)

B) Few: before countable & plural (Not many, almost none)

Examples:

  1. Few people understand the plan. (Not many).
  2. We’ve had a few replies. (a small number)

C) Some:

  1. I ate a date/ some dates.
  2. They bought some honey. (affirmative)
  3. Do some of you sleep on the floor? (I expect so)
  4. Would you like some wine? (offers/requests)

D) Any:

  1. I haven’t any matches. (negative)
  2. I have hardly any spare time. (almost negative)

* Others:

  1. One more, please!
  2. There’s only room for one person.
  3. It was the first time they had ever met.
  4. All the men had weapons.
  5. All the people are ready.
  6. Both doors were open.
  7. Half of the fruit was bad.
  8. He has a half share in the company.
  9. Many people feel that the law should be changed.