Chapter 4 - The Determiner Phrase(35) singular plural mass proper
complement complement complement complement
a man a men a sand ?a Jim
both man both men both sand both Jim
some man some men some sand ?some Jim
e[+def] man e[+def] men e[+def] sand e[+def] Jim
e[–def] man e[–def] men e[–def] sand e[–def] Jim
As heads, determiners also project their properties to the phrase and so a plural
indefinite determiner will head a plural indefinite DP. We can see this from the
following observations:
(36) a there are some men in the garden
b there is a man in the garden
c *there is/are the man/men in the garden
d the man is in the garden
e the men are in the garden
As we have pointed out, only indefinite DPs can appear in the post-verbal position in
there sentences. Interestingly, in this construction the verb appears to agree with the
post-verbal element. So in (36a) the post-verbal DP is indefinite, the sentence being
grammatical, and the verb is in the plural form. The determiner some is an indefinite
plural determiner and these properties are projected to the whole phrase. The
determiner a is indefinite and singular and hence the DP that it heads can go in the
post-verbal position of a there sentence and the verb will be in its singular form, as in
(36b). The determiner the is definite, but unmarked for number. Therefore it cannot
head a DP in the post-verbal position of a there sentence (36c), but it can trigger either
singular or plural agreement on the verb when it sits in the canonical subject position,
(36d) and (36e), depending on what NP it takes as a complement.
We can represent these relationships in the following way:
(37) DP
D'
D NP
All this is very typical of the behaviour of a head.
2.2 The Specifier of the DP
Let us now turn to the specifier of the DP. Like all specifiers this should be a single
phrasal element which comes before the head. The most obvious choice would be the
possessor:
(38) John’s book
restrict
sprojects