Advanced Grammar for IELTS : Determiners

1: We can use these without an article if we put the noun before the person’s name:

• Irishman Eddie Jordan has put together a team of great quality and spirit.

2: We often use television, cinema, etc. without an article to refer to the art or entertainment form:

• She works on television. I’m studying film in my final year.

If we refer to a specific item we use the article:

• Don’t put flowers on the television. Have you seen the new film by Ridley Scott?

3: We use a/ an if we want to make a nameless specific:

• A Mr. Jones came to see you this afternoon. (I don’t know which Mr Jones.)

We can make a name more specific by using the:

• The Mr. Jones with the stutter came to see you. (The stutter identifies this Mr. Jones.)

4: Although we don’t usually use an article with seasons, it is possible to use the: in the

spring/the summer, and note that we use the with parts of the day: in the afternoon.

Note: We usually use a possessive adjective (not the) to refer to parts of the body:

• Put your hand up if you know the answer.

Demonstratives

Used as Adjectives

We can use demonstratives, this/that (singular) and these/those (plural), as adjectives before nouns to refer to someone or something known to both speaker and listener:

• I’m not sure which shoes to buy.’ ‘Well, I think these shoes are lovely.’

We use them to distinguish between close and distant things (in both space and time): In very informal speech we can use this or these instead of a/ an or some, often to introduce a topic or start telling a story:

• This woman came up to me in the bank and asked if she could borrow …

Used as Pronouns or Intensifiers

We can use demonstratives as pronouns to refer to a noun, a thing or idea:

• This is a really wonderful cup of tea. What kind is it?
• A/ an says he’s giving up his job to travel the world. I think that’s stupid.

We can use this to talk about a situation that we are experiencing:

• This is the worst recession we have seen for more than ten years.

We can use demonstratives as a more formal alternative to the one(s):

• Hundreds of Brixton residents turned out to welcome Tyson to their borough. Those who had bothered were rewarded by a 40-minute walkabout.

In certain expressions, we can use this or that instead of so to intensify an adjective:

• I’ve never known a winter this cold before. So you think you’re that clever, do you?

See also:

• IELTS Grammar
• IELTS Grammar books
• English Pronunciation in use Intermediate pdf

Quantifiers

Common Quantifiers and Their Use

Quantifiers are determiners that describe the quantity of something. Notice the use of of or of the shown in the table:

The quantifiers neither and none take a singular verb with plural nouns, though a plural verb is now accepted in speech and informal writing:

• None of the students is/are willing to accept the increase in coursework.

Practice Exercises for Determiners

Given below are some tests for determiners. Answer keys are provided at the end.

Q 1.

Fill in the blanks with appropriate determiners:

Read this story and fill in the gaps with the correct article: a/ an, the or – (no article). For one gap you will need a possessive adjective.

I first experienced terror when I was seven. My mother lived in London, but after a brief liaison with (1)____ soldier from the United States, she became pregnant and fled to (2)____ country. (At that time, fifty years ago, it was considered shameful to be a single parent.) A great aunt of hers lived in (3)____ cottage in (4)_____ North Wales, and there she was able to bring me up in (5)____ peace, pretending that she was a widow. (6)_____ locals were all very friendly to us and accepted us without question, and I had (7)______ blissful childhood.

One day I arrived home from (8)_____ school to find my mother clutching (9)_____telegram, in floods of tears. (10)_______ telegram informed her that her father – my grandfather – had died. His funeral would be in three days and we had to go to London. I had never been outside (11)_____ village and I was really excited at the thought of going to (12)______ capital city. So, two days later, we boarded a train to London. It was (13)_____ first time I had been on a train and I could barely contain (14)_______ excitement of such an adventure. Several hours later we arrived. I clutched my mother’s hand as we stepped down from the train. (15)________ station was full of people rushing home from (16)______ work and it was quite dark. Now (17)_____ fear was starting to creep into my mind. Then, suddenly, we were in (18)_______ street outside the station. I had never seen so many people, buses and cars, nor heard so much noise. I was terrified. I opened (19)________ mouth and the wail that I let escape was one of (20)______ sheer terror.

Q 2.

Complete these short sentences with an appropriate article: a/an, the or – (no article).

1. He’s got___asthma.
2. The ring is just a band of___gold.
3. It prints seven pages___minute.
4. Let’s have a weekend in____ mountains
5. She’s at____work.
6. It’s in___Tasman Sea.
7. Sorry – it’s____wrong answer.
8. It appeared in____New York Times.
9. She’s always been____Catholic.
10. What’s for ____dinner?
11. We’re going on a day trip by___coach
12. They’re flying to____Seychelles.
13. It’s____best solution.
14. Can you ski on____Mont Blanc?
15. It’s quite warm there in____winter.
16. We all need____oxygen.
17. We’ve had over____dozen applicants.
18. She works in____television.
19. It’s all____better if you can come early.
20. He was crowned_____king.

Q 3.

Complete the dialogue with a demonstrative adjective or pronoun from the box.

ROB: What’s on TV tonight, do you know?

JENNY: No. Why don’t you look in the paper you’re reading?

ROB: (1)___paper doesn’t have TV listings.

JENNY: Oh, right. Well try (2)____one on the shelf, over there.

ROB: OK yes, let’s see. There’s nothing much on (3)____days at all, is there? It’s all soaps and detective series.

JENNY: Mmm. I thought there was always a serious documentary on Tuesday evenings. (4)____one last week on homelessness was really interesting.

ROB: Yes, you’re right. There’s one on travellers. Listen. (5)___is awful. ‘Although landowners may lose income while travellers are on their land, there is no fast route to evicting them. (6)____who go through the courts often have to take out more than one injunction before the matter is settled.’

JENNY: Well, what do you expect? The travellers need somewhere to live, like the rest of us. The government should give them land.

ROB: (7)___’s no solution, is it? They want to travel, not to settle.

JENNY: How do you know? There was (8)___story in my magazine about travellers from years ago and the encampments they made – they were allowed to settle down then.

ROB: Yes, but in (9)____days there was more free land. The land is (10)____valuable today, people use every bit of it and don’t want travellers on their land.

JENNY: Mmm, well why don’t we turn the TV on and find out what the documentary says?

Q 4.

Match one of the sentences or beginnings of sentences in each pair (1-8) with a continuation of the sentence or conversation from the list below (A-l).

1. 1. I don’t know him. Do you?
   2. Could I have a closer look at it, please?
   3. It’s a basic human right.
   4. You just have to shop around.
   5. It’s the tallest type of tree in the world.
   6. She took journalism and media studies.
   7. You know, the one where Chris works.
   8. You know, the one that we couldn’t get last week.
   9. I’ve never come across one so talkative before!

Example:

1. Let’s meet in a wine bar.
2. Let’s meet in the wine bar. ==> _b_ + _G_

1.

1. My sister went to university.
2. My sister went to the university

2.

1. The cat communicates a lot of desires and emotions.
2. This cat communicates a lot of desires and emotions.

3.

1. Dr Richards called to speak to you.
2. Dr Richards called to speak to you.

4.

1. People shouldn’t be denied freedom.
2. People shouldn’t be denied the freedom …

5.

1. A giant redwood once grew to over 70 meters.
2. The giant redwood can grow to more than 70 meters.

6.

1. Let’s get a video out this evening.
2. Let’s get that video out this evening.

7.

1. You can pay a lot less for a car these days.
2. You could pay a lot less for a car in those days.

8.

1. This is an interesting specimen.
2. That’s an interesting specimen.

Q 5. 

Try this exercise on quantifiers. For each of these questions, either one or two alternatives (A-C) are correct. Circle the letters of the correct alternatives.

• I haven’t seen ______ of those films, so I don’t mind which one we go to.

1. any
2. no
3. either

• You shouldn’t slouch like that. It puts ______of pressure on one hip and leg.

1. much
2. a lot
3. all

• At this stage______ information would have been a step In the right direction.

1. little
2. some
3. any

• The Fitness Room would like to invite ________ of its patrons to enter the annual fitness challenge.

1. all
2. every
3. some

• _______ witnesses responded to the police appeal after the accident.

1. No
2. None
3. Any

• _______ of the women who attended the demonstration was willing to give us an Interview.

1. No
2. None
3. Many

• We would like to add that _______ medallion is inscribed with the name of its lucky owner.

1. each
2. every
3. either

• Only _______ of the news today has been about the election.

1. half
2. a little
3. a few

• We guarantee that _______ item of the dinner service will be replaceable for a period of ten years.

1. each
2. every
3. all

• We are delighted to be able to welcome _______ the competition winners to the gala evening.

1. both
2. either
3. all

Q 6.

Complete the article with the words from above each paragraph. (- = no article)

Food Frights

Planning a big day out this summer? It’s not just the rides that could turn your stomach!

The risk of food poisoning should be the last thing on (1)___mind when you’re enjoying a quiet day out (2)____summer. But, in (3)___UK, there were around 95,000 reported cases of (4)___food poisoning in (5)____last year alone – a four-fold increase on the number of reported cases just ten years ago.

We checked food safety at 13 of our top tourist attractions. We tested the food on offer and inspected hygiene standards at restaurants, cafés, and kiosks on site. Standards were generally poor. About (6)____third of the 65 food samples we bought tailed to meet satisfactory microbiological guidelines. Sandwiches came out worst — in five of (7)____25 samples we bought we found food-poisoning bacteria. But, to judge from our inspections, the results are not that surprising. Only one in seven food outlets passed (8)____of our inspection criteria. (9)____majority of problems we came across were staff-related and showed a lack of training in (10)____food safety.

What We Found

At (11)____tourist attraction we bought a selection of sandwiches and other food products. Our tests revealed specific food-poisoning bacteria in five of (12)____sandwiches. High levels of other general bacteria were also found in more than (13)____of the sandwiches – while (14)____bacteria don’t make you ill, they do point to (15)_____poor hygiene practices.

Five sandwiches contained food-poisoning bacteria at levels that are not satisfactory according to guidelines. (16)____could cause food-poisoning – (17)____children, elderly people and pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. We’ve informed (18)_____food outlets and tourist attractions concerned; (19)____(but not all) have taken positive action as a result of (20)____disturbing findings.

Q 7.

Read the following text. In most lines, there is an unnecessary word, a word missing or an incorrect word. For each numbered line (1-23), identify the mistake and write the correct word in the space on the right. Some lines are correct. Indicate these with a tick (✓). The exercise begins with three examples.

Magnum Past and Present

• Magnum is a co-operative of nearly sixty photographers with offices in New.. ✓
• York, London, Paris and Tokyo. A co-operative was founded in 1947 by…. A => The
• photographers the Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson. George Rodger and… the

1. David Seymour. All them had been involved in the Second World War.
2. Rodger had walked hundreds of miles through forest to escape Japanese
3. in the Burma. And Seymour received a medal for his work in American
4. intelligence.
5. However, all of founders of Magnum had been photographers for
6. some time. Photographic work they were famous for dated back further.
7. Capa’s photos of the Spanish Civil war were called ‘finest pictures of
8. front-line action ever taken.’
9. They all appreciated an importance of showing the world what really
10. happens during this major conflicts and world crises, so they decided to
11. produce the best documentary photography at this time. Cartier-Bresson
12. once commented ‘Some photographers tell the news step by the step as
13. if making an accountant’s statement.’ He and Magnum, on the other hand,
14. felt that the news had to be shown in that way that would engage most
15. the people who are unable to experience world-changing events at first-hand.
16. Tragically, within a decade of the start of Magnum, the half of its original
17. founders died while covering other wars. However, agency had started to
18. employ other top-class photographers and its work was sure to continue.
19. Today, Magnum is some goal for many young photographers. It still
20. produces the finest documentary photographs of world events. Recent
21. coverage has included the events in Balkans and the tribal wars in East
22. Africa, and while Magnum photographers cover these events, we will all be
23. able to appreciate both best and worst of humanity.

Answer Key for Diagnostic Test

1. the
2. The
3. the
4. the
5. –
6. the
7. –
8. a
9. the
10. –
11. an
12. a
13. A/-
14. those
15. This/A
16. this
17. any/ some
18. All
19. both/ both of
20. Much/ A lot

Answer Key for Practice Exercise

Q 1.

Q 2.

1. –
2. –
3. a
4. the
5. –
6. the
7. the
8. the
9. a
10. –
11. –
12. the
13. the
14. –
15. -/the
16. –
17. a
18. –
19. the
20. –

Q 3.

1. This
2. that
3. these
4. That
5. This
6. Those
7. That
8. this
9. those
10. that

Q 4.

1. a+F
2. b+ I
3. b+A
4. a+C
5. b+E
6. b+H
7. a+D
8. b+B

Q 5.

1. A, C
2. B
3. B, C
4. A. C
5. A
6. B
7. A, B
8. A, B
9. A, B
10. A, C

Q 6.

1. your
2. this
3. the
4. –
5. the
6. a
7. the
8. all
9. The
10. –
11. each
12. the
13. half
14. these
15. –
16. This
17. –
18. the
19. most
20. these

Q 7.

1. All them => All of them
2. Japanese => the Japanese
3. the Burma => Burma
4. ✓
5. of-founders =>» of the founders
6. Photographic work => The photographic work
7. finest pictures => the finest pictures
8. ✓
9. an => the
10. this => these
11. this => that
12. step by the step => step by step
13. ✓
14. that way => a way
15. most-the people => most of the people
16. the half => half
17. agency => the agency
18. ✓
19. some goal => the goal
20. ✓
21. in Balkans => in the Balkans
22. ✓
23. best => the best