La Détermination (document en anglais)

Determination

1) Definition : Determiners are used in front of nouns to indicate whether you are referring to something specific or something of a particular type. Determiners and nous form noun phrases.

Determiners are words that are used with nouns:

-to define something or someone

-to state the amount of people, things or other nouns

-to state possessives

-to state something or someone is specific

-to state how things or people are distributed

-to state the difference between nouns

-to state someone or something is not specific

There are different types of determiners. The type of determiner depends on the type of noun.

-Singular nouns always need a determiner.

-Plural nouns the determiner is optional.

-Uncountable nouns the determiner is also optional

2) Example from a literary text :

Three quarters of the rubbish we generate every day could be recycled, and more of it could be, if the production of biodegradable goods were encouraged. At present the same amount is wasted every day because of the notorious lack of incineration plants. Such plants could be installed in all factories so that each company could burn its own rubbish and save a great deal of fuel. The only snag about waste burners is that they emit certain kinds of highly contaminating gases, but it is calculated that in a few years rubbish will be burned without causing any damage to the environment. A further argument is that, although nuclear fusion has none of the risk of fission, so far, no scientist has yet found a system which can function at temperatures lower than millions of degrees centigrade.

3) Figurative or graphic representation:

1 Defining and

Particularising 2 Quantifying and

Distributing 3 Numbering and

Ordering 4 Semi- determinatives

Definite

The

Indefinite

a(n), some

zero (0)

Demonstrative

This, that, these,

Those

Possessive

my, your, his, her, their,

Sam’s, my friend’s , etc

Interrogative/ relative

what, whose, which, whichever

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