WRIT2250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Part Of Speech, Adpositional Phrase, Fireplace Mantel
Lecture 6 – 26/3/18 – Determiners and Articles
Expletive pronouns
- Expletive subjects fill out a subject position when nothing else will do the job for it
o It is aiig/hot/soig the eathe it
o Thee is o plae like hoe the eistetial it
Gender-neutral pronouns
- We have three singular pronoun: he, she, and it
o He ad she ae gedeed, ut e do’t use it
o The a e used as a thid-person singular pronoun
Make pronoun references as clear as possible
- Sometimes you have to repeat nouns for clarity
- The Loel this
o To esue lait, use this ith a ou use it as a deteie ot a poou
Determiners
- Copise a sall losed do’t hage ofte set that oe efoe a ou o ou phase
- Make nouns or noun phrases more specific e.g
o Teachers (unspecific)
o A teacher
o The teacher
o That teacher
o This teacher (most specific)
Types of determiners
- Pre-determiners
- Determiners
- Post-determiners
Many determiners look like pronouns
Recognising determiners
- Always combine with noun or noun phrase
o If a word looks like a determiner but is hanging on its own, it is a pronoun not a
determiner
- Pronouns stand on their own
o That joke was not funny vs that was not a funny joke
o Would you like some tea? Vs Yes I would like some
o In the second cases, the word is standing in for a whole noun phrase, therefore it is a
pronoun
- Possessive determiners have corresponding possessive pronoun forms
o My book is now on sale vs That book is mine
o Her cat went missing vs That cat is hers
- They are not adjectives, even though they modify a noun or noun phrase – behave
differently
Adjectives
- They modify nouns, tell us more about nouns
o Othe pats of speeh do’t do this
- Attributive adjectives come before a noun or noun phrase
o The curious incident
o The subtle art
- Predicative adjectives occur in the predicate (complement) – come after the linking verb
o The student seems confused
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Document Summary
Lecture 6 26/3/18 determiners and articles. Expletive subjects fill out a subject position when nothing else will do the job for it. It is (cid:396)ai(cid:374)i(cid:374)g/hot/s(cid:374)o(cid:449)i(cid:374)g (cid:894)the (cid:449)eathe(cid:396) (cid:862)it(cid:863)(cid:895: the(cid:396)e is (cid:374)o pla(cid:272)e like ho(cid:373)e (cid:894)the e(cid:454)iste(cid:374)tial (cid:862)it(cid:863)(cid:895) We have three singular pronoun: he, she, and it: he a(cid:374)d she a(cid:396)e ge(cid:374)de(cid:396)ed, (cid:271)ut (cid:449)e do(cid:374)"t use (cid:862)it(cid:863, (cid:862)the(cid:455)(cid:863) (cid:272)a(cid:374) (cid:271)e used as a thi(cid:396)d-person singular pronoun. Sometimes you have to repeat nouns for clarity. The lo(cid:374)el(cid:455) (cid:862)this(cid:863: to e(cid:374)su(cid:396)e (cid:272)la(cid:396)it(cid:455), use (cid:862)this(cid:863) (cid:449)ith a (cid:374)ou(cid:374) (cid:894)use it as a dete(cid:396)(cid:373)i(cid:374)e(cid:396) (cid:374)ot a p(cid:396)o(cid:374)ou(cid:374)(cid:895) Co(cid:373)p(cid:396)ise a s(cid:373)all (cid:862)(cid:272)losed(cid:863) (cid:894)do(cid:374)"t (cid:272)ha(cid:374)ge ofte(cid:374)(cid:863) set that (cid:272)o(cid:373)e (cid:271)efo(cid:396)e a (cid:374)ou(cid:374) o(cid:396) (cid:374)ou(cid:374) ph(cid:396)ase. Make nouns or noun phrases more specific e. g: teachers (unspecific, a teacher, the teacher, that teacher, this teacher (most specific) Always combine with noun or noun phrase. If a word looks like a determiner but is hanging on its own, it is a pronoun not a determiner.
