adjectivesdeterminants

The compound adjective-determinants is not a standard term in most grammars, but it can refer to the interaction of adjectives and determiners within noun phrases. Adjectives are words that describe properties or qualities of nouns, such as color, size, or shape. They can occur before a noun as attributive modifiers (a blue sky) or after a linking verb in predicate position (the sky is blue). They may also indicate subjective judgments, order, or emphasis in different languages.

Determiners are a separate, closed class of words that specify reference to a noun. This class includes articles (a, an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these), possessives (my, your, his), quantifiers (some, many, enough), and numerals (two, several). Determiners typically occur before the noun and constrain its interpretation.

In noun phrases, determiners and adjectives interact to form structure. The usual English order is determiner, adjective(s), noun (for example, the red car). Not all adjectives can be determiners, but some adjectives are inherently bound to the noun and may carry limited inflection in other languages. Some determiners may themselves indicate quantity or definiteness.

Examples: “a green apple,” “these large houses,” “my previous job,” “three expensive cars.” In some languages, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, or case, and determiners may participate in that agreement.

See also: grammar, noun phrase, pronoun, article, modifier.