Determiners are often confused as adjectives by many speakers of English. While adjectives are words that describe, such as intelligent, tall, fat, yellow and whatnot, determiners limit nouns in terms of reference, quantity and possession. They include articles (a, an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), possessives (my, your, her, his, their) and quantifiers (few, a few, little, a little, much, any, et cetera). A clear difference between determiners and adjectives is that determiners precede adjectives within a noun phrase, as in:
This young man
My brilliant niece
Her blue bag
Expectedly, this treatise will address some of the errors associated with the use of determiners in sentences. First, the determiner, ‘another’, is often wrongly used in place of ‘more’, when referring to uncount nouns. Whereas ‘another’ should be used with countable nouns, ‘more’ ought to be deployed alongside uncount nouns, as seen in the following sentences:
You will have to bring another money to complete the payment (non-standard).
You will have to bring (some) more money to complete the payment (standard).
I need another pair of jeans for the outing (standard).
She has purchased another clothing (non-standard).
She has purchased (some) more clothing (standard).
Furthermore, it is characteristic of many native and non-native speakers to use the word, ‘much’, with countable nouns. This is outright inappropriate and should be replaced with the determiner, ‘many’, which is preferably applied along with countable nouns:
We are not much in our class (non-standard).
We are not many in our class (standard).
Also, note that ‘whole’ should not be used with plural nouns. ‘All’ can be used in place of ‘whole’ in such sentences:
The whole plates are missing (non-standard).
All the plates are missing (standard)
The whole faculties on campus need new buildings (non-standard).
All the faculties on campus need new buildings (standard).
The whole school has been in fear (standard).
The whole class was in a shambles (standard).
Also deserving of attention are four words used in two pairs: few and a few; little and a little. ‘Few’ is used with countable nouns, usually to denote the smallness of the number being mentioned, while ‘a few’ is used to suggest sufficiency. The usages are clarified in the following example sentences:
All the students were invited but a few turned up (non-standard).
All the students were invited but few turned up (standard).
The conjunction, ‘but’, suggests that the number that turned up was smaller compared to the expectation. The sense of insufficiency is implied, hence the use of ‘few’. However, when ‘only’ is used with ‘a few’, it can suggest smallness, too:
All the students were invited but only a few turned up (standard).
I have few bags of rice at home; I can still spare you ten cups of rice (non-standard).
I have a few bags of rice at home; I can still spare you ten cups of rice (standard).
‘A few’ is preferred in the aforementioned context because the speaker suggests that s/he has sufficient bags of rice, from which s/he could share with someone else.
Moving on, ‘little’ and ‘a little’ are deployed in conjunction with uncountable nouns, with the former suggesting insufficiency and the latter implying sufficiency:
We had a little money to spend, so we could not go to the cinema (non-standard).
We had little money to spend, so we could not go to the cinema (standard).
She saves little money every month so that she can rent an apartment after the NYSC programme (non-standard).
She saves a little money every month so that she can rent an apartment after the NYSC programme (standard).
Note, also, that when ‘whenever’ is used in a sentence, the determiner, ‘any’ should not be used with it. This is because the use of ‘whenever’ itself suggests ‘any’. The sentences below illustrate this:
Whenever you go to any market, get me a black bag (non-standard).
Whenever you go to a market, get me a black bag (standard).
The deployment of ‘most’ and ‘many’ are also similar concepts to demystify. it is important to avoid the use of ‘most’ when one does not mean to refer to eighty to ninety per cent of the number being discussed, as evidenced hereunder:
Most of my classmates are not serious; almost fifty per cent of them miss classes (non-standard).
Many of my classmates are not serious; almost fifty per cent of them miss classes (standard).
Moreover, when ‘then’ is deployed as an adjective, it must be preceded by a determiner, as obtained below:
The meeting was convened by then president (non-standard).
The meeting was convened by the (determiner) then president (standard).
That car was bought by then boyfriend (non-standard).
That car was bought by my (determiner) then boyfriend (standard).
Last but not least, it should be etched on the readership’s minds that ‘any’, as a determiner, is applied alongside plural nouns or uncount nouns in negative sentences and questions, after ‘if’ or ‘whether’, and after some verbs like ‘forbid’, ‘prevent’ and ‘ban’.
Do you have any question (non-standard)?
Do you have any questions (plural noun; standard)?
She asked whether we had any information (mass noun; standard).
Jasmine forbids any bottles (plural noun) in the library (standard).
Although determiners are used within the structure of noun phrases, their accurate deployment is a prerequisite for grammaticality. Caution should, therefore, be exercised when choosing them.
