Study Guides/English/Determiners Exercises
Study Guide · English

English Determiners: Explanation and Exercises

In English grammar, a Determiner is a word placed just before a noun to clarify exactly what the noun refers to. It tells us whether the noun is specific or general, and indicates quantity or possession.

Question (Click to Flip)

What is the difference between 'Each' and 'Every'?

Answer

We use 'Each' when we are thinking of things separately, one by one (Each student came to the stage). We use 'Every' when thinking of a group as a whole (Every student in the class cheered).

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Key Facts

A noun phrase can only have ONE article or demonstrative. You cannot say 'The my car' or 'This a book'.

'A few' means a small positive amount. But 'Few' (without the 'a') has a negative meaning, meaning almost zero.

1. The 4 Types of Determiners

  1. Articles: A, An, The. (e.g., Give me the book).
  2. Demonstratives: This, That, These, Those. (e.g., I want that car).
  3. Possessives: My, Your, His, Her, Our, Their. (e.g., Where is your phone?).
  4. Quantifiers: Some, Any, Much, Many, Few, Little, All, Every. (e.g., There is some milk left).

2. Practice Exercise (Fill in the blanks)

Choose the correct determiner to fill in the blanks:

  1. Can I have ________ (some / any) sugar in my tea?
  2. I don't have ________ (much / many) friends in this new city.
  3. Look at ________ (this / those) beautiful birds flying in the sky!
  4. He is ________ (a / an) honest man.
  5. ________ (Every / All) student must submit their homework tomorrow.

3. Answers with Explanations

  1. Some: Use 'some' when making a polite request, even if it's a question.
  2. Many: 'Friends' is a countable noun, so we use 'many'. ('Much' is used for uncountable nouns like water).
  3. Those: The birds are plural and far away, so we use the plural demonstrative 'those'.
  4. An: Even though 'honest' starts with an H, the sound is a vowel 'O', so we use 'an'.
  5. Every: Because the noun 'student' is singular, we must use 'Every'. If it was 'students' (plural), we would use 'All'.

Questions and Answers

What is the difference between 'Each' and 'Every'?+

We use 'Each' when we are thinking of things separately, one by one (Each student came to the stage). We use 'Every' when thinking of a group as a whole (Every student in the class cheered).

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