Ducks are birds.

A few ducks live here.

Few ducks live here.

The few ducks that live here in winter are mallards.

The ducks were brown.

Three ducks were sick.

One of the ducks ran away.

A duck was swimming in the pond.

That duck was quacking.

Those ducks are migrating.

Both ducks eat fish.

Some ducks eat worms.

Two ducks came toward us.

The two ducks were flapping their wings as they came.

Many ducks escaped.

Another duck flew past.

The other duck was injured.

Rules for Determiners and Adjectives

  1. We do not use a singularcount noun alone. We always use an article and/or a determiner with it. Determiners are words like this, that, some, many, her, my, etc. We can also use adjectives, with or without articles.

He bought a computer.

The homework for tonight is interesting.

This movie is very interesting.

I would like to borrow your car.

  1. Singularnon-count nouns are used with or without an article.

Gold is a precious metal.

I like music.

I like the music you are playing.

The chef is now putting sugar and flour into the bowl.

The sugar you are using has ants in it.

  1. Plural nouns can be used with or without articles.

This machine takes quarters.

The women in the class are doing very well.

Tall men have an advantage when playing basketball.

Some birds are on the lawn looking for worms.

There is strength in numbers.

  1. A gerund (verbal noun) is treated like a singular non-count noun, i.e., it usually has no article.

The teacher stressed the importance of daily reading in

English.

Making money is an important goal for most Americans.

He set aside some time for reading the newspaper.

His acting last nightwas truly great.

Here are some things that can go with nouns:

  1. Definite and Indefinite Articles

The woman brought a child to school.

An eagle landed in the field.

  1. Adjectives

Hungry children cannot concentrate in class.

Recent events have taught us how to react.

  1. Article + Adjective

The international students feel welcome at GMU.

A successful actress is often abeautiful woman.

  1. Demonstrative adjectives

This problem is too difficult to solve.

I gave the book to that teacher over there.

We hold these principles to be self-evident.

In those days, people rarely went to graduate school.

  1. Numbers (with or without articles)

There are three buses waiting at the bus stop.

Here are the two articles I saved for you.

This is the third book in the series.

Two of my problems are easy to solve.

  1. Possessives

My mother is waiting for me.

Where is your (his, her, our, their) bicycle?

  1. Question words

Which restaurant should we visit today?

Which essay is for what class?

  1. Quantifiers (to express how much/how many)

Somepeople are afraid of cats.

I cannot find any reason to skip class today.

Many people love to watch sports.

Every museum visitor stops at the gift shop.

Before leaving home, I decided to take all the family pictures with me.

Here is the order of elements in a noun phrase:

ARTICLE or DETERMINER│ + ADJECTIVE + │ NOUN .

- the angry birds

- an impossible situation

- those little children

- some people

- many annoying traits

- enormous difficulties

- major problems

- happiness

When can a noun stand alone, without any determiners or adjectives? It happens in cases when we are discussing general or theoretical concepts. Examples:

To imagine that tea might lower the risk of heart attacks is very exciting.

Crime in the inner cities is decreasing year by year.

Love is the most important thing in life.

The best things in life are free.

Each of these nouns can also occur in sentences with determiners when they refer to a specific thing or idea:

The tea you brought me from China was delicious.

He committed a terrible crime when he murdered his mother.

The love between a mother and her child is very strong.

I want to live my life without fear.

Be careful about using “of” –

All boys like to play sports.

All of the boys in my class like football.

Some people prefer walking to taking the bus.

No Americans have gone to Mars.

None of the space travelers have visited Venus.

Underline the adjectives and circle the determiners in each sentence.

  1. The recipe calls for seedless raisins.
  1. My elderly grandmother ran into your youngest sister.
  1. That gray puppy is jealous of this new kitten.
  1. No jury will find me guilty.
  1. A farmer recently painted the red tractor green.
  1. Some children always seem happy.
  1. An apple tastes sweet.
  1. That mean bully kicked which smaller child?
  1. All six books are quite interesting.
  1. None of the loud patrons have broken any of the new chairs.

Correct the errors in these sentences:

  1. Many of people in the U.S. eat hamburgers.
  1. You can save the money by using public transportation.
  1. Older people remember how they used to live in past without advanced technology.
  1. The little boy fell on dirty street.
  1. Straight line is shortest distance between two points.
  1. I agree with decision of the company.
  1. Alcoholism is significant problem in Russia.
  1. Second reason is that smoking causes cancer.
  1. Africa occupies a large proportion of earth’s surface.
  1. Architecture is important public service career.
  1. The subway will provide great convenience to public.
  1. Getting an education is an important goal in the life.
  1. The Good Shepherd represents the kindness.
  1. It is not an easy thing to build trust relationship between strangers.
  1. Teacher plays an important role in child’s development.