Determiners used as pronouns

Determiners are words such as the, my, this, some, twenty, each, any, which are used before nouns. We can also use some determiners as pronouns (i.e. without a noun following and when the meaning is clear without including the noun).

Compare

before a noun

as a pronoun (no noun following)

Would you like some bread with your soup?

I’ve got a bar of chocolate here. Would you like some?

We didn’t have enough volunteers to make the project work.

A:

Do you need more paper?

B:

No. I’ve got enough, thanks.

Several people complained about the slow service.

It’s not just one school that is in financial difficulty; there are several.

Determiners which can be used as pronouns in this way are:

(a) few

either

less

neither

these

(a) little

enough

many

one, two, three, etc.

this

another

fewer

more

several

those

any

fewest

most

some

which

both

least

much

that

whose

each

I’ve had a lot of pairs of sunglasses of different kinds, and I’ve lost a few over the years on various trips.

A:

D’you want tea or coffee?

B:

Neither, thanks. I’ve just had breakfast.

A:

Which shoes do you want to put on?

B:

Pass me those, please. The black ones.

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