Determiners, auxiliaries and modals

Unit IV: Determiners, Auxiliaries, and Modals

1. Determiners

Determiners are words such as articles or possessive adjectives (a, an, the, this, that, these, those, every, each, some, any, my, his, one, two, etc.) that determine or limit the meaning of a noun or noun phrase and precede adjectives that accompany them.

Examples:

• The new car
• His young children
• Her old hockey sticks
• Any clever man

Most modern grammars include determiners as parts of speech. However, in traditional grammars, determiners (except for a, an, and the) were categorized as adjectives.

2. Auxiliaries

Auxiliary verbs (or helping verbs) like be, am, is, was, have, do, etc., are used with ordinary verbs to form tenses, passive constructions, questions, and negatives.

The Auxiliary "Be"

• In Continuous Tenses:
  • Saumyaranjan is reading.
  • I was playing.
• In Passive Voice:
  • The gate was opened.
• "Be" Followed by the Infinitive:
  • Future Plans: I am to see him tomorrow.
  • Command: You are to write your name on each sheet of paper.

The Auxiliary "Have"

• In Perfect Tenses:
  • He has worked.
  • He has been working.
• Indicating Future Obligation:
  • I have to be there by five o’clock.
  • He has to move the furniture himself.
• In Past Obligation:
  • I had to be there by five o’clock.

The Auxiliary "Do"

• Forming Negatives and Questions:
  • He doesn't work.
  • Does he work?
• Avoiding Verb Repetition:
  • Do you know him? Yes, I do.
  • She sings well. Yes, she does.
• Emphasizing Affirmative Statements:
  • You do look pale.

3. Modals

Modal verbs like can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, ought are used before ordinary verbs to express meanings such as permission, possibility, certainty, and necessity.

Use of Can, Could, May, Might

• Can: Ability/Capacity: I can swim across the river.
• May: Possibility: It may rain tomorrow.
• Could/Might: Past Equivalent of Can/May: I could swim across the river when I was young.

Use of Shall, Should, Will, Would

• Shall (First Person) & Will (All Persons):
  • I shall/will be twenty-five next birthday.
• Commands, Promises, Threats (Shall in 2nd/3rd Person):
  • He shall not enter my house again. (Command)
  • You shall have a holiday tomorrow. (Promise)

Use of Must, Ought to

• Must for Necessity/Obligation:
  • You must improve your handwriting.
  • We must get up early tomorrow.