A Student's Introduction to English Grammar

§4 Complements 93

Apart from the interrogatives, all the indefinite markers have to do with quantifica­

tion. Among the definite markers, all and both are also quantificational, but illus­

trate the special case of quantification that involves totality.

This and that are unique among the detenninatives in that they inflect for num­

ber, in agreement with the head noun: compare this book and these books, that day

and those days.

3.2 Determinatives as modifiers

It should be borne in mind that although determinatives are a class of

words that most commonly function as determiners (hence the similarity of the

terms), many are also found in other functions, particularly modifier? Compare, for

example:

[29] DETERMINER

a. [The younger son] had died.

ii a. Who 's [that tall guy over there]?

iii a. [Manvpeople] were offended.

MODIFIER

b. I fe el [all the better] fo r my holiday.

b. He shouldn't have driven [that fa st].

b. He listed [its manyfailings].

While the underlined determinative is determiner in NP structure in the [a] exam­
ples, it is a modifier in the others: a modifier in an AdjP in rib], in an AdvP in [iib],
and in an NP in [iiib].

3.3 Determinative phrases

A number of the quantificational determinatives accept dependents of

their own. A determinative with dependents functions as the head of a phrase which

we call a determinative phrase (DP). In most cases the dependents are modifiers

preceding the head of the DP. In the following examples, brackets enclose the NP,

with underlining marking the DP inside it:

[30] a. [Not many people] turned up.

ii a. [Almost every copy] was torn.

III a. [Some thirty paintings] were stolen.

(^4) Complements
b. Th ere were [at most fifty applications].
b. We have [hardly any milk] left.
b. I haven't [very much money] on me.
One striking difference between nouns and verbs is that NOUNS DON'T
TAKE OBJECTS. With nouns that are morphologically related to transitive verbs, as
2 We use 'detenniner' for the function tenn and 'detenninative' for the category tenn since the suffix ·er
matches that in the function tenn 'modifier', while ·ive matches that in the category tenn 'adjective'.