English grammar - Roger Berry 2012

C3 Usage problems with determiners
Section C Exploration

There are a number of problems with the usage of determiners, concerning how to use them, or which one to use. Some of them are discussed elsewhere in the book:

□ the difference between all, every and each(A3)

□ the difference between some and any (A1)

□ alternative structures for all, both, and half: both men, both the men, both of the men (D3)

□ the formal nature of some determiners such as much and many (D3).

This section focuses on just three issues:

1. The difference in meaning between a few and a little vs few and little

We saw in A3 that a few and a little need to be regarded as single determiners, not a combination of two. But this brings them into ’conflict’ with their single-word counterparts, few and little. So what is the difference?

Activity C3.1

Consider these two sentences. What is the difference in meaning?

1. We invited 100 people; in spite of the rain a few turned up.

2. We invited 100 people; in spite of the good weather few turned up.

2. The acceptability of less with plural nouns

Activity C3.2

What do your intuitions tell you about these two sentences with less?

1. I expected more food and less people.

2. He is suffering from a form of leukemia that affects less than 70 children a year.

3. Distinguishing determiners from other word classes

As we saw in A3, most determiners can be pronouns as well, when they are used alone without a noun: I found some. But this is not all; there are several determiners which can also be adverbs:

I feel all itchy. He is all-powerful. (= completely)

There are some 150 irregular verbs in English. (= approximately)

Is she that good? (= to that extent)

Activity C3.3

Work out the word class of little on the lines below. In addition to being a determiner, pronoun or adverb, it can also be an adjective with the meaning of ’small’. In this case it goes with singular or plural count nouns, and if the noun is singular it must have a determiner (such as a); if it is a determiner it means ’a small amount’ and precedes non-count nouns. If you are not sure, try replacing little with small. If this is possible, then it is an adjective.

1. They have little to look forward to . . .

2. ... to leave school and grow up in a world with little work.

3. ... this is a decent little time-wasting package . . .

4. ... as you can see I returned a little early.

5. ... many homeless families receive little or no health care.

6. I will tell you a little about the story line ... .

7. ... but you had very little eye contact with Maggie.

8. ... she found herself following him to the dark little bar . . .

9. ... if things go ill, it is goodbye, but at little personal cost.

10. That was mainly because of a lot of niggly little injuries . . .

11. ... [they] increasingly, as I grew older, understood very little of what I read.

12. ... this is often little understood.

13. ... too much to do in too little time . . .

14. ... I always thought she looked a little bit like Blues official Dessie Moore . . .

15. ... in order to make as little contact as possible with the soft oozing mud . . .

16. ... whose talents have been all too little met by the emphasis on . . .

Activity C3.4a

Work out whether less is a determiner, adverb or pronoun on these lines:

1. The quicker you get to your opponent’s goal the less obstacles you find . . .

2. For the less wealthy, there were silver bracelets . . .

3. ... a helicopter requires less power to maintain height . . .

4. Ban all bands with names of one syllable or less.

5. ... some of this more recent legislation has been less effective in securing convictions.

6. ... other conductors with a less complete control find it hard . . .

7. If she spoke less and listened more . . .

8. ... this did not mean necessarily there was less literacy.

9. They want to use less fuel and cause less pollution . . .

10. In Britain this trend has been less marked . . .

11. ... failure to provide adequate services means less is being achieved . . .

12. ... and is therefore due to expire in less than ten years from now . . .

Activity C3.4b

Now look at the same lines again and find where less is a determiner being used with a count noun, where it could be replaced by fewer.

Activity C3.5

Look at these concordance lines and decide whether some is

a) a determiner with a singular noncount noun

b) a determiner with a count noun in the plural

c) a pronoun

d) an adverb

1. We did some blood tests . . .

2 . ... we’ll just have some music now.

3. More than 12,000 people . . . have been treated, and some have complained of glare . . .

4. [He] farms some 230 acres north of Chatteris . . .

5 and in some cases this has caused a chafing . . .

6. We will carry out some work on this . . .

7. We hope soon to introduce paper banks at some of our larger stores . . .

8. Some publishers are making heavy weather of 1992.

9. They will inevitably replace humans in some medical tasks.

10. I’m writing to you with some good news . . .

11. Keep some of these in the house.

12. There’s some programme on tonight about it.

Comments

Activity C3.1:

In 1 a few has a positive idea; it implies that more than expected turned up, given the conditions. In 2 few suggests a disappointing result; more should have because of the good weather. It has the same idea as ’not many’. There is a similar positive/negative distinction between a little and little.

Activity C3.2:

In both cases fewer could be used: fewer people and fewer than. And some people would insist that it must be used, especially in 1. They cite a ’rule’ that says that fewer (and few and fewest) should be used with count nouns (and little, less and least with noncount nouns). But concordance lines show that this usage is common (and it has been for a long time). And even people who object to 1 do not notice a problem with 2. Also, when we think about it, there is no similar distinction with more and most (though there is with much and many).

Activity C3.3:

Here are the answers:

Determiner: 2, 5, 7, 9, 13 and 15.

Pronoun: 1, 6 and 11.

Adverb: 4, 12 and 16.

Adjective: 3, 8, 10 and 14.

In 14 little is modifying bit (i.e. it is an adjective); but a little bit functions as an adverb. If we simply said a little like then it would be an adverb too. Note modification of the determiner with very, too and as on lines 7, 13 and 15. Note also the lines where a little (determiner, pronoun or adverb) expresses a positive idea.

Activity C3.4a:

Here are the answers:

Determiner: 1, 3, 8, 9

Pronoun: 4, 7, 11,

Adverb: 2, 5, 6, 10, 12

Activity C3.4b:

There are three lines where less is used with, or is referring to, a count noun. In two (5 and 9) it could possibly be replaced by fewer, though the text does not sound strange. Only in one (1) does less sound informal (or perhaps incorrect to some people). In 12 it would sound strange to use fewer, because ten years, although technically plural, is considered as a single period. See A3 for more on this.

Activity C3.5:

a) a determiner with a singular noncount noun: 2, 6, 10

b) a determiner with a count noun in the plural: 1, 5, 7, 8, 9

c) a pronoun: 3, 11

d) an adverb: 4

12 does not involve any of the above cases; it shows some used with a singular count noun, meaning something unspecified or vague.