Noun phrases with several determiners

Most noun phrases contain only one determiner or none at all, but if there are more, they follow a definite order.

Based on their position in a noun phrase, determiners are of three type:

Pre-determiner + Central Determiner + Post-determiner

Central determiners

• Articles (a/an, the),
• Demonstratives (this, these, that, those)
• Possessives (my, your, her, his, x’s etc).

A noun phrase will normally contain only one central determiner.

Few Exceptions: Possessive case of noun, i.e. x’s
I spoiled my mother’s rug.

Central determiners can be used in combination with pre-determiners and post-determiners.

Pre-determiners

The predeterminers occur prior to other determiners.

The class of words that are more likely to work as pre-determiners are:

Multipliers

That is, double, twice, four/five times . . . .

This bus holds three times the passengers as that mini-van.

I hope my boss will double my salary.

Fractional expressions

That is, half, one-third, three-quarters, etc.

Half the students came from overseas.

John finished the lesson in one-fourth of the assigned time.

Two-fifths of the respondents reported that Javascript is the best programming language.

Distributives

That is, no, either, neither, each, both and all

Both my young sisters are really naughty.

All the visitors left the ship.

Either of these two students can win the trophy.

Some Quantifiers

That is, some, any, enough

Some two hundred people gathered in the pouring rain.

We have lost enough of our soldiers.

Interrogatives

That is, what, which

What a shot!

Which of your shirt is missing?

Another

I want another two glasses of milk.

• Some pre-determiners may follow the following structure:

Pre-determiner + of + Central determiner

All of the visitors left the party.

Half of the apples will have to be thrown away.

I want to have some of those oranges.

Neither of my sisters is married.

Post-determiners

Post-determiners are determiners that occur after another determiner in a noun phrase.

The class of words that are more likely to work as post-determiners are:

Ordinal numbers

That is, first, second, third, etc and the words next, last etc.

This is my first drink.

The next round is going to be very exciting.

Cardinal numbers

That is, one, two, six, etc.

I lost those two books.

The three men just arrived.

A Caveat!

Some words can do multiple roles, i.e. they can be pre-determiners, as well as post-determiners.

Many:
Many a man has tried but few men have succeeded.
The many kind things she did went unnoticed.

Several:
They have blocked several of their accounts.
Soon world will know about our several achievements.

Extra Books and Tools

If you prefer to learn via books, or want some good English Grammar books for reference purposes, you may read this article which enlists some of the books recommended by us.