Determiners versus Pronouns
Many determiners are also pronouns, and it's important to understand the difference.
A determiner occurs at the beginning of a noun phrase and in some way qualifies the rest of the noun phrase. A determiner cannot exist alone:
- Those classic songs were great.
- My car is the big one.
A pronoun can take the place of a whole noun phrase:
- Those were great classic songs.
- Those were great.
- Mine is the big one.
Most determiners and pronouns are exactly the same word: either (determiner) and either (pronoun)
A few determiners and pronouns are close but not exactly the same: my (determiner) and mine (pronoun)
Here are some examples of determiners that have a pronoun equivalent:
| determiners | pronouns |
|---|---|
| demonstratives | |
| this, that these, those |
this, that these, those |
| quantifiers | |
| some, any | some, any |
| no | none |
| many/much | many/much |
| enough, several | enough, several |
| more, most | more, most |
| either, neither | either, neither |
| each | each |
| all, half, both | all, half, both |
| possessives (see full list below) | |
| my/his etc | mine/his etc |
| interrogatives | |
| what, which, whose | what, which, whose |
Here is a full list of possessive determiners and pronouns:
| determiners | pronouns |
|---|---|
| possessives | |
| my | mine |
| your | yours |
| his her its |
his hers its |
| our | ours |
| their | theirs |