1.161 Identifying what you are talking about: determiners

In English, there are two main ways in which you can use a noun group. You can use it to refer to someone or something, knowing that the person you are speaking to understands which person or thing you are talking about. This can be called the specific way of referring to someone or something.

• The man began to run towards the boy.
• Young people don't like these operas.
• Thank you very much for your comments.
• Gertrude was sitting on a seat near the Rosetta Stone.

Alternatively, you can use a noun group to refer to someone or something of a particular type, without saying which person or thing you mean. This can be called the general way of referring to someone or something.

• There was a man in the lift.
• It stood as tall as an elephant.
• Any doctor would say she didn't know what she was doing.

In order to distinguish between these two ways of using a noun group, you use a special class of words called determiners. There are two types of determiner, specific determiners and general determiners. You put them at the beginning of a noun group.