You begin composing an essay being sure that you know everything you need about English grammar. But how about pre-determiners? Do you know what they even are and what function they perform? In the last post you could learn a lot about distributives determiners, however pre-determiners are also an essential part of any good writing. If you want to get an A for your essay or another academic paper, you must master the usage of pre-determiners. Although, there is another secret option you could use. Before you become a true English grammar specialist, you can send all your papers to Royal Editing. Our professional editors and proofreaders will make sure that all the pre-determiners are used correctly, as well as correct all your punctuation, spelling and other grammar mistakes. Entrust your paper to professionals and you will always win.
Determiners: Definition and Functions
Before we settle into discovering the features of pre-determiners, it would be wise to refresh our memory of determiners; to understand what they are, which function they perform and to see a few examples.
Determiners are words, which we place at the beginning of a noun phrase. First of all they specify what the noun phrase refers to — to the whole group that consists of objects or members, or to individuals in the group. A very important function of determiners is showing whether the noun phrase is specific or general.
Specific determiners include: definite article, possessives, demonstratives and interrogatives. When we use specific determiners in a sentence, we imply that a listener knows a concrete subject we refer to. Let’s see some examples to better understand what specific determiners are:
Did you break the cup?
She baked his favorite pie;
Look at that wonderful dress;
Which book did you take?
General determiners are used when we imply that the listener doesn’t know exactly what we talk about. They include indefinite articles and words: any, other/another and what. However, remember that when you talk about uncountable nouns, like sugar, water, sand, etc, you don’t need to use an indefinite article. Let’s illustrate it with a couple of examples:
Humans must drink water to live;
You can take any book you like;
Would you like another cup of tea?
Pre-determiners: Functions and Classification
As it is obvious from the name, pre-determiners are words, which appear before determiners. As well as determiners they tell us some important information about the noun phrase they modify. Nevertheless, there are more particular functions they perform that distinguish them from regular determiners:
- Add information to a determiner;
- Demonstrate a speakers or writers opinion about the noun;
- Often are used to show surprise or intensify other kinds of emotions.
All pre-determiners can be divided into separate groups, such as: multipliers, fractions, intensifiers and other. In this post you will be able to learn about each type of pre-determiners in more detail. However, we have to remind you that there is no need for you to get too stressed about getting every word right in your papers, because our editors are always there to fix your words and sentences. Moreover, if you got stuck while crafting your essay, you can read some free essay samples in our blog and maybe they would inspire in you some ideas and give you necessary confidence for writing.
Multipliers
Multipliers are the type of pre-determiners used to specify the amount of objects mentioned in the noun phrase, as well as to add some emotional quality to a determiner. They include words: twice, three times, four times, ten times, etc. For example:
He ate twice as much food as I did;
I see a dentist three times a year;
In one evening, she spent ten times my monthly budget.
Fractions
Fractions are pre-determiners you use when you talk about fractions of some amount. They include such words as: half, one-third, two-fourth, etc. Let’s illustrate the point with some examples:
Add one-third a cup of granulated sugar and stir;
I spent half my salary on telephone bills;
She used two-fourth that thread to knit a scarf.
Intensifiers
Intensifiers are the most emotional of all pre-determiners, because they are use to add certain emotional coloration to a noun phrase and a determiner before it. They can express disappointment, surprise, pleasure and other emotions. Intensifiers include words: such, what, rather, quite. Let’s look at some examples to understand how intensifiers work:
Look, what a beautiful morning!
That man is such a gossip.
Words rather and quite deserve special attention. They are considered to be commenting words, which are able to intensify a certain quality of a noun phrase. They don’t have any stable positive or negative characteristic, because the emotion depends on the adjective or determiner that stands before a noun phrase. For example:
She was quite a charming lady;
He told us quite sad a story;
It was rather a chilly morning;
They gave me rather a sweet present.
Other determiners
Few determiners, all and both, fall into category of other, because they are used to refer to a group as a whole or a couple and not to individuals.
He invited both his friends to the dinner;
Have you seen all those people?
No Pre-determiners Mistakes?
Pre-determiners seem like an easy concept to learn and apply in writing. But seemingly easy is often deceptive and our editors can assure you that pre-determiners can be very tricky. Determiners go into the list of the most common mistakes made in writing. So how can you be sure that your paper is free from pre-determiners mistakes? Ultimately, there are only two options. The first one is you learning everything about determiners, their rules and usage. You would have to complete some exercises to make sure you got the theory right. The second option is much more convenient and secure. All you will need to do is to order professional editing services and our editors will do the rest for you. You will save your time and energy, and will be guaranteed to receive a good grade for your paper. In addition, if you chose to cooperate with Royal Editing, you can be sure to expect high quality, speed and amazing discounts.