determiner

determiner (bestemmerord): a class of function words which occur at the beginning of noun phrases. Determiners say something about such things as number, definiteness, proximity and ownership. Classes of determiners are: articles (a/an, the), numerals, demonstrative determiners (this/that, these/those), indefinite determiners (some/any), possessive determiners (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), relative determiner (whose, whichever, whatever), interrogative determiner (which, what, whose). An s-genitive can also function as a determiner in a noun phrase. Determiners belonging to any of these classes are sometimes referred to as 'central determiners’. They do not combine with each other, i.e. there can only be one central determiner in a noun phrase. The central determiners can, however, combine with other (particularly quantifying) expressions in a determiner phrase. E.g. all my books, her two best friends, some of their money. In contrast to premodifiers, determiners are not descriptive of the head noun (with the possible exception of the s-genitive).