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Determiners precede nouns and noun phrases, and the best known and most common of them are:

 the – known as the definite article, and

 a and an – known as indefinite articles

It’s easy to see why they are described so; the is always specific, referring to a definite thing, person or entity, while a and an are used to refer to singular count nouns:

 the house over there; the woman in the red dress; the Hippodrome

 a large house; an angry young man; a good party; an eel pie

Words functioning as determiners – adjectives and pronouns, for example – exist in great variety, and help us to indicate quantity (some wine); ask questions (whose wine?); denote possession (my wine), and express emotion (what wine!). Numbers can function as determiners, too: a thousand thanks! first race, half a minute. Get the full story on determiners on page 139.