英语原版语法

EnglishGrammarinEnglish

TOC\o"1-3"\u

1AnIntroductiontoWordclasses

3

1.1CriteriaforWordClasses

4

1.1.1Meaning

4

1.1.2Theformor`shape'ofaword

5

1.1.3Thepositionor`environment'ofawordinasentence

6

1.2OpenandClosedWordClasses

7

2Nouns

8

2.1CharacteristicsofNouns

8

2.2CommonandProperNouns

10

2.3CountandNon-countNouns

10

2.4Pronouns

11

2.5OtherTypesofPronoun

12

2.6Numerals

13

2.7TheGenderofNouns

14

3Determiners

16

3.1NumeralsandDeterminers

17

3.2PronounsandDeterminers

18

3.3TheOrderingofDeterminers

19

3.4Predeterminers

19

3.5CentralDeterminers

20

3.6Postdeterminers

20

4Verbs

21

4.1TheBaseForm

21

4.2PastandPresentForms

22

4.3TheInfinitiveForm

23

4.4MoreVerbForms:-ingand-ed

23

4.5FiniteandNonfiniteVerbs

24

4.6AuxiliaryVerbs

25

4.7AuxiliaryVerbTypes

25

4.8TheNICEPropertiesofAuxiliaries

28

4.9Semi-auxiliaries

29

4.10TenseandAspect

29

4.11Voice

31

5Adjectives

31

5.1CharacteristicsofAdjectives

33

5.2AttributiveandPredicativeAdjectives

34

5.3InherentandNon-inherentAdjectives

35

5.4StativeandDynamicAdjectives

36

5.5NominalAdjectives

37

5.6AdjectivesandNouns

38

5.7ParticipialAdjectives

40

5.8TheOrderingofAdjectives

44

6Adverbs

47

6.1FormalCharacteristicsofAdverbs

48

6.2AdverbsandAdjectives

49

6.3CircumstantialAdverbs

50

6.4Additives,Exclusives,andParticularizers

51

6.5Wh-Adverbs

51

6.6SentenceAdverbs

52

7Prepositions

52

7.1ComplexPrepositions

53

7.2MarginalPrepositions

54

8Conjunctions

55

8.1CoordinationTypes

56

8.2FalseCoordination

57

9Minorwordclasses

58

9.1FormulaicExpressions

58

9.2Existentialthere

59

9.3UsesofIt

59

10Introducesphrases

60

10.1DefiningaPhrase

60

10.2TheBasicStructureofaPhrase

61

10.3MorePhraseTypes

62

10.4NounPhrase(NP)

63

10.5VerbPhrase(VP)

64

10.6AdjectivePhrase(AP)

65

10.7AdverbPhrase(AdvP)

65

10.8PrepositionalPhrase(PP)

66

10.9PhraseswithinPhrases

66

11Clausesandsentences

67

11.1TheClauseHierarchy

68

11.2FiniteandNonfiniteClauses

69

11.3SubordinateClauseTypes

70

11.3.1RelativeClauses

71

11.3.2NominalRelativeClauses

72

11.3.3SmallClauses

72

11.4SubordinateClauses:SemanticTypes

73

11.5Sentences

74

11.6TheDiscourseFunctionsofSentences

75

11.6.1Declarative

75

11.6.2Interrogative

75

11.6.3Imperative

76

11.6.4Exclamative

77

11.7TheGrammaticalHierarchy:Words,Phrases,Clauses,andSentences

77

12FormandFunction

78

12.1SubjectandPredicat

79

12.2CharacteristicsoftheSubject

80

12.3RealisationsoftheSubject

82

12.4SomeUnusualSubjects

84

12.5InsidethePredicate

84

12.6TheDirectObject

85

12.7RealisationsoftheDirectObject

86

12.8SubjectsandObjects,ActiveandPassive

87

12.9TheIndirectObject

87

12.10RealisationsoftheIndirectObject

88

12.11Adjuncts

88

12.12RealisationsofAdjuncts

89

12.13SentencePatternsfromaFunctionalPerspective

90

12.14SomeUntypicalSentencePatterns

92

13FunctionsandPhrases

94

13.1Complements

94

13.2ComplementsinotherPhraseTypes

96

13.3AdjunctsinPhrases

97

13.4ComplementsandAdjunctsCompared

98

13.5Specifiers

99

1AnIntroductiontoWordclasses

Wordsarefundamentalunitsineverysentence,sowewillbeginbylookingatthese.Considerthewordsinthefollowingsentence:

mybrotherdrivesabigcar

Wecantellalmostinstinctivelythatbrotherandcararethesametypeofword,andalsothatbrotheranddrivesaredifferenttypesofwords.Bythiswemeanthatbrotherandcarbelongtothesamewordclass.Similarly,whenwerecognisethatbrotheranddrivesaredifferenttypes,wemeanthattheybelongtodifferentwordclasses.WerecognisesevenMAJORwordclasses:

Verb

be,drive,grow,sing,think

Noun

brother,car,David,house,London

Determiner

a,an,my,some,the

Adjective

big,foolish,happy,talented,tidy

Adverb

happily,recently,soon,then,there

Preposition

at,in,of,over,with

Conjunction

and,because,but,if,or

Youmayfindthatothergrammarsrecognisedifferentwordclassesfromtheoneslistedhere.Theymayalsodefinetheboundariesbetweentheclassesindifferentways.Insomegrammars,forinstance,pronounsaretreatedasaseparatewordclass,whereaswetreatthemasasubclassofnouns.Adifferencelikethisshouldnotcauseconfusion.Instead,ithighlightsanimportantprincipleingrammar,knownasGRADIENCE.Thisreferstothefactthattheboundariesbetweenthewordclassesarenotabsolutelyfixed.Manywordclassessharecharacteristicswithothers,andthereisconsiderableoverlapbetweensomeoftheclasses.Inotherwords,theboundariesare"fuzzy",sodifferentgrammarsdrawthemindifferentplaces.

Wewilldiscusseachofthemajorwordclassesinturn.ThenwewilllookbrieflyatsomeMINORwordclasses.Butfirst,letusconsiderhowwedistinguishbetweenwordclassesingeneral.

1.1CriteriaforWordClasses

WebeganbygroupingwordsmoreorlessonthebasisofourinstinctsaboutEnglish.Wesomehow"feel"thatbrotherandcarbelongtothesameclass,andthatbrotheranddrivesbelongtodifferentclasses.However,inordertoconductaninformedstudyofgrammar,weneedamuchmorereliableandmoresystematicmethodthanthisfordistinguishingbetweenwordclasses.

Weuseacombinationofthreecriteriafordeterminingthewordclassofaword:

1.Themeaningoftheword

2.Theformor`shape'oftheword

3.Thepositionor`environment'ofthewordinasentence

1.1.1Meaning

Usingthiscriterion,wegeneralizeaboutthekindofmeaningsthatwordsconvey.Forexample,wecouldgrouptogetherthewordsbrotherandcar,aswellasDavid,house,andLondon,onthebasisthattheyallrefertopeople,places,orthings.Infact,thishastraditionallybeenapopularapproachtodeterminingmembersoftheclassofnouns.Ithasalsobeenappliedtoverbs,bysayingthattheydenotesomekindof"action",likecook,drive,eat,run,shout,walk.

Thisapproachhascertainmerits,sinceitallowsustodeterminewordclassesbyreplacingwordsinasentencewithwordsof"similar"meaning.Forinstance,inthesentenceMysoncooksdinnereverySunday,wecanreplacetheverbcookswithother"action"words:

MysoncooksdinnereverySunday

MysonpreparesdinnereverySunday

MysoneatsdinnereverySunday

MysonmissesdinnereverySunday

Onthebasisofthisreplacementtest,wecanconcludethatallofthesewordsbelongtothesameclass,thatof"action"words,orverbs.

However,thisapproachalsohassomeseriouslimitations.Thedefinitionofanounasaworddenotingaperson,place,orthing,iswhollyinadequate,sinceitexcludesabstractnounssuchastime,imagination,repetition,wisdom,andchance.Similarly,tosaythatverbsare"action"wordsexcludesaverblikebe,asinIwanttobehappy.What"action"doesberefertohere?Soalthoughthiscriterionhasacertainvaliditywhenappliedtosomewords,weneedother,morestringentcriteriaaswell.

1.1.2Theformor`shape'ofaword

Somewordscanbeassignedtoawordclassonthebasisoftheirformor`shape'.Forexample,manynounshaveacharacteristic-tionending:

action,condition,contemplation,demonstration,organization,repetition

Similarly,manyadjectivesendin-ableor-ible:

acceptable,credible,miserable,responsible,suitable,terrible

ManywordsalsotakewhatarecalledINFLECTIONS,thatis,regularchangesintheirformundercertainconditions.Forexample,nounscantakeapluralinflection,usuallybyaddingan-sattheend:

car--cars

dinner--dinners

book--books

Verbsalsotakeinflections:

walk--walks--walked--walking

1.1.3Thepositionor`environment'ofawordinasentence

Thiscriterionreferstowherewordstypicallyoccurinasentence,andthekindsofwordswhichtypicallyoccurneartothem.Wecanillustratetheuseofthiscriterionusingasimpleexample.Comparethefollowing:

[1]IcookdinnereverySunday

[2]Thecookisonholiday

In[1],cookisaverb,butin[2],itisanoun.Wecanseethatitisaverbin[1]becauseittakestheinflectionswhicharetypicalofverbs:

IcookdinnereverySunday

IcookeddinnerlastSunday

Iamcookingdinnertoday

MysoncooksdinnereverySunday

Andwecanseethatcookisanounin[2]becauseittakestheplural-sinflection

Thecooksareonholiday

Ifwereallyneedto,wecanalsoapplyareplacementtest,basedonourfirstcriterion,replacingcookineachsentencewith"similar"words:

Noticethatwecanreplaceverbswithverbs,andnounswithnouns,butwecannotreplaceverbswithnounsornounswithverbs:

*IchefdinnereverySunday

*Theeatisonholiday

Itshouldbeclearfromthisdiscussionthatthereisnoone-to-onerelationbetweenwordsandtheirclasses.Cookcanbeaverboranoun--italldependsonhowthewordisused.Infact,manywordscanbelongtomorethanonewordclass.Herearesomemoreexamples:

Shelooksverypale(verb)

She'sveryproudofherlooks(noun)

Hedrivesafastcar(adjective)

Hedrivesveryfastonthemotorway(adverb)

Turnonthelight(noun)

I'mtryingtolightthefire(verb)

Iusuallyhavealightlunch(adjective)

Youwillseeherethateachitalicisedwordcanbelongtomorethanonewordclass.However,theyonlybelongtoonewordclassatatime,dependingonhowtheyareused.Soitisquitewrongtosay,forexample,"cookisaverb".Instead,wehavetosaysomethinglike"cookisaverbinthesentenceIcookdinnereverySunday,butitisanouninThecookisonholiday".

Ofthethreecriteriaforwordclassesthatwehavediscussedhere,theInternetGrammarwillemphasisethesecondandthird-theformofwords,andhowtheyarepositionedorhowtheyfunctioninsentences.

1.2OpenandClosedWordClasses

SomewordclassesareOPEN,thatis,newwordscanbeaddedtotheclassastheneedarises.Theclassofnouns,forinstance,ispotentiallyinfinite,sinceitiscontinuallybeingexpandedasnewscientificdiscoveriesaremade,newproductsaredeveloped,andnewideasareexplored.Inthelatetwentiethcentury,forexample,developmentsincomputertechnologyhavegivenrisetomanynewnouns:

Internet,website,URL,CD-ROM,email,newsgroup,bitmap,modem,multimedia

Newverbshavealsobeenintroduced:

download,upload,reboot,right-click,double-click

Theadjectiveandadverbclassescanalsobeexpandedbytheadditionofnewwords,thoughlessprolifically.

Ontheotherhand,weneverinventnewprepositions,determiners,orconjunctions.Theseclassesincludewordslikeof,the,andbut.TheyarecalledCLOSEDwordclassesbecausetheyaremadeupoffinitesetsofwordswhichareneverexpanded(thoughtheirmembersmaychangetheirspelling,forexample,overlongperiodsoftime).Thesubclassofpronouns,withintheopennounclass,isalsoclosed.

Wordsinanopenclassareknownasopen-classitems.Wordsinaclosedclassareknownasclosed-classitems.

Inthepageswhichfollow,wewilllookindetailateachofthesevenmajorwordclasses.

2Nouns

Nounsarecommonlythoughtofas"naming"words,andspecificallyasthenamesof"people,places,orthings".NounssuchasJohn,London,andcomputercertainlyfitthisdescription,buttheclassofnounsismuchbroaderthanthis.Nounsalsodenoteabstractandintangibleconceptssuchasbirth,happiness,evolution,technology,management,imagination,revenge,politics,hope,cookery,sport,literacy

Becauseofthisenormousdiversityofreference,itisnotveryusefultostudynounssolelyintermsoftheirmeaning.Itismuchmorefruitfultoconsiderthemfromthepointofviewoftheirformalcharacteristics.

2.1CharacteristicsofNouns

Manynounscanberecognisedbytheirendings.Typicalnounendingsinclude:

-er/-or

actor,painter,plumber,writer

-ism

criticism,egotism,magnetism,vandalism

-ist

artist,capitalist,journalist,scientist

-ment

arrangement,development,establishment,government

-tion

foundation,organisation,recognition,supposition

MostnounshavedistinctiveSINGULARandPLURALforms.Thepluralofregularnounsisformedbyadding-stothesingular:

Singular

Plural

car

cars

dog

dogs

house

houses

However,therearemanyirregularnounswhichdonotformthepluralinthisway:

Singular

Plural

man

men

child

children

sheep

sheep

ThedistinctionbetweensingularandpluralisknownasNUMBERCONTRAST.

Wecanrecognisemanynounsbecausetheyoftenhavethe,a,oraninfrontofthem:

thecar

anartist

asurprise

theegg

areview

Thesewordsarecalleddeterminers,whichisthenextwordclasswewilllookat.

Nounsmaytakean-'s("apostrophes")orGENITIVEMARKERtoindicatepossession:

theboy'spen

aspider'sweb

mygirlfriend'sbrother

John'shouse

Ifthenounalreadyhasan-sendingtomarktheplural,thenthegenitivemarkerappearsonlyasanapostropheafterthepluralform:

theboys'pens

thespiders'webs

theBrowns'house

Thegenitivemarkershouldnotbeconfusedwiththe'sformofcontractedverbs,asinJohn'sagoodboy(=Johnisagoodboy).

Nounsoftenco-occurwithoutagenitivemarkerbetweenthem:

rallycar

tabletop

cheesegrater

Universityentranceexamination

Wewilllookattheseinmoredetaillater,whenwediscussnounphrases.

2.2CommonandProperNouns

NounswhichnamespecificpeopleorplacesareknownasPROPERNOUNS.

John

Mary

London

France

Manynamesconsistofmorethanoneword:

JohnWesley

QueenMary

SouthAfrica

AtlanticOcean

BuckinghamPalace

Propernounsmayalsorefertotimesortodatesinthecalendar:

January,February,Monday,Tuesday,Christmas,Thanksgiving

AllothernounsareCOMMONNOUNS.

Sincepropernounsusuallyrefertosomethingorsomeoneunique,theydonotnormallytakeplurals.However,theymaydoso,especiallywhennumberisbeingspecificallyreferredto:

therearethreeDavidsinmyclass

wemettwoChristmasesago

Forthesamereason,namesofpeopleandplacesarenotnormallyprecededbydeterminerstheora/an,thoughtheycanbeincertaincircumstances:

it'snothingliketheAmericaIremember

mybrotherisanEinsteinatmaths

2.3CountandNon-countNouns

Commonnounsareeithercountornon-count.COUNTnounscanbe"counted",asfollows:

onepen,twopens,threepens,fourpens...

NON-COUNTnouns,ontheotherhand,cannotbecountedinthisway:

onesoftware,*twosoftwares,*threesoftwares,*foursoftwares...

Fromthepointofviewofgrammar,thismeansthatcountnounshavesingularaswellaspluralforms,whereasnon-countnounshaveonlyasingularform.

Italsomeansthatnon-countnounsdonottakea/anbeforethem:

Count

Non-count

apen

*asoftware

Ingeneral,non-countnounsareconsideredtorefertoindivisiblewholes.Forthisreason,theyaresometimescalledMASSnouns.

Somecommonnounsmaybeeithercountornon-count,dependingonthekindofreferencetheyhave.Forexample,inImadeacake,cakeisacountnoun,andtheabeforeitindicatessingularnumber.However,inIlikecake,thereferenceislessspecific.Itrefersto"cakeingeneral",andsocakeisnon-countinthissentence.

2.4Pronouns

Pronounsareamajorsubclassofnouns.Wecallthemasubclassofnounsbecausetheycansometimesreplaceanouninasentence:

Noun

Pronoun

Johngotanewjob

~Hegotanewjob

Childrenshouldwatchlesstelevision

~Theyshouldwatchlesstelevision

Intheseexamplesthepronounshavethesamereferenceasthenounswhichtheyreplace.Ineachcase,theyrefertopeople,andsowecallthemPERSONALPRONOUNS.However,wealsoincludeinthisgroupthepronounit,althoughthispronoundoesnotusuallyrefertoaperson.Therearethreepersonalpronouns,andeachhasasingularandapluralform:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st

I

we

2nd

you

you

3rd

he/she/it

they

Thesepronounsalsohaveanothersetofforms,whichweshowhere:

Person

Singular

Plural

1st

me

us

2nd

you

you

3rd

him/her/it

them

Thefirstsetofforms(I,you,he...)exemplifiestheSUBJECTIVECASE,andthesecondset(me,you,him...)exemplifiestheOBJECTIVECASE.Thedistinctionbetweenthetwocasesrelatestohowtheycanbeusedinsentences.Forinstance,inourfirstexampleabove,wesaythathecanreplaceJohn

Johngotanewjob

~Hegotanewjob

ButhecannotreplaceJohninIgaveJohnanewjob.Here,wehavetousetheobjectiveformhim:Igavehimanewjob.

2.5OtherTypesofPronoun

Aswellaspersonalpronouns,therearemanyothertypes,whichwesummarisehere.

PronounType

MembersoftheSubclass

Example

Possessive

mine,yours,his,hers,ours,theirs

Thewhitecarismine

Reflexive

myself,yourself,himself,herself,itself,oneself,ourselves,yourselves,themselves

Heinjuredhimselfplayingfootball

Reciprocal

eachother,oneanother

Theyreallyhateeachother

Relative

that,which,who,whose,whom,where,when

Thebookthatyougavemewasreallyboring

Demonstrative

this,that,these,those

Thisisanewcar

Interrogative

who,what,why,where,when,whatever

Whatdidhesaytoyou?

Indefinite

anything,anybody,anyone,something,somebody,someone,nothing,nobody,none,noone

There'ssomethinginmyshoe

Caseandnumberdistinctionsdonotapplytoallpronountypes.Infact,theyapplyonlytopersonalpronouns,possessivepronouns,andreflexivepronouns.Itisonlyinthesetypes,too,thatgenderdifferencesareshown(personalhe/she,possessivehis/hers,reflexivehimself/herself).Allothertypesareunvaryingintheirform.

Manyofthepronounslistedabovealsobelongtoanotherwordclass-theclassofdeterminers.Theyarepronounswhentheyoccurindependently,thatis,withoutanounfollowingthem,asinThisisanewcar.Butwhenanounfollowsthem-Thiscarisnew-theyaredeterminers.Wewilllookatdeterminersinthenextsection.

Amajordifferencebetweenpronounsandnounsgenerallyisthatpronounsdonottaketheora/anbeforethem.Further,pronounsdonottakeadjectivesbeforethem,exceptinveryrestrictedconstructionsinvolvingsomeindefinitepronouns(alittlesomething,acertainsomeone).

Whiletheclassofnounsasawholeisanopenclass,thesubclassofpronounsisclosed.

2.6Numerals

Numeralsincludeallnumbers,whetheraswordsorasdigits.Theymaybedividedintotwomajortypes.CARDINALnumeralsincludewordslike:

nought,zero,one,two,3,fifty-six,100,athousand

ORDINALnumeralsinclude

first,2nd,third,fourth,500th

Weclassifynumeralsasasubclassofnounsbecauseincertaincircumstancestheycantakeplurals:

fivetwosareten

he'sinhiseighties

Theymayalsotakethe:

thefourthofJuly

aproductofthe1960s

Andsomepluralnumeralscantakeanadjectivebeforethem,justlikeothernouns:

thehousewasbuiltinthelate1960s

he'sinhisearlytwenties

thetemperatureisinthehighnineties

Ineachofourexamples,thenumeralsoccurindependently,thatis,withoutanounfollowingthem.Inthesepositions,wecanclassifythemasatypeofnounbecausetheybehaveinmuchthesamewayasnounsdo.Notice,forexample,thatwecanreplacethenumeralsinourexampleswithcommonnouns:

heisinhiseighties

~heisinhisbedroom

thefourthofJuly

~thebeginningofJuly

aproductofthe1960s

~aproductoftherevolution

Numeralsdonotalwaysoccurindependently.Theyoftenoccurbeforeanoun,asin

oneday

threepages

thefourthdayofJuly

Inthisposition,weclassifythemasdeterminers,whichwewillexamineinthenextsection.

Finally,seeifyoucananswerthisquestion:

Isthesubclassofnumeralsopenorclosed?

2.7TheGenderofNouns

Thegenderofnounsplaysanimportantroleinthegrammarofsomelanguages.InFrench,forinstance,amasculinenouncanonlytakethemasculineformofanadjective.Ifthenounisfeminine,thenitwilltakeadifferentformofthesameadjective-itsfeminineform.

InEnglish,however,nounsarenotinthemselvesmasculineorfeminine.Theydonothavegrammaticalgender,thoughtheymayrefertomaleorfemalepeopleoranimals:

thewaiterisveryprompt

~thewaitressisveryprompt

thelionroarsatnight

~thelionessroarsatnight

Thesedistinctionsinspellingreflectdifferencesinsex,buttheyhavenogrammaticalimplications.Forinstance,weusethesameformofanadjectivewhetherwearereferringtoawaiterortoawaitress:

anefficientwaiter

~anefficientwaitress

Similarly,thenaturaldistinctionsreflectedinsuchpairsasbrother/sister,nephew/niece,andking/queenhavenoconsequenceforgrammar.Whiletheyrefertospecificsexes,thesewordsarenotmasculineorfeminineinthemselves.

However,genderissignificantinthechoiceofapersonalpronountoreplaceanoun:

Johnislate

~Heislate

Maryislate

~Sheislate

Herethechoiceofpronounisdeterminedbythesexofthepersonbeingreferredto.However,thisdistinctionislostintheplural:

JohnandMaryarelate

~Theyarelate

JohnandDavidarelate

~Theyarelate

MaryandJanearelate

~Theyarelate

Genderdifferencesarealsomanifestedinpossessivepronouns(his/hers)andinreflexivepronouns(himself/herself).

Whenthenotionofsexdoesnotapply--whenwerefertoinanimateobjects,forinstance--weusethepronounit:

theletterarrivedlate

~itarrivedlate

3Determiners

Nounsareoftenprecededbythewordsthe,a,oran.ThesewordsarecalledDETERMINERS.Theyindicatethekindofreferencewhichthenounhas.ThedeterminertheisknownastheDEFINITEARTICLE.Itisusedbeforebothsingularandpluralnouns:

Singular

Plural

thetaxi

thetaxis

thepaper

thepapers

theapple

theapples

Thedeterminera(oran,whenthefollowingnounbeginswithavowel)istheINDEFINITEARTICLE.Itisusedwhenthenounissingular:

ataxi

apaper

anapple

Thearticlestheanda/anarethemostcommondeterminers,buttherearemanyothers:

anytaxi

thatquestion

thoseapples

thispaper

someapple

whatevertaxi

whichevertaxi

Manydeterminersexpressquantity:

allexamples

bothparents

manypeople

eachperson

everynight

severalcomputers

fewexcuses

enoughwater

noescape

Perhapsthemostcommonwaytoexpressquantityistouseanumeral.Welookatnumeralsasdeterminersinthenextsection.

3.1NumeralsandDeterminers

Numeralsaredeterminerswhentheyappearbeforeanoun.Inthisposition,cardinalnumeralsexpressquantity:

onebook

twobooks

twentybooks

Inthesameposition,ordinalnumeralsexpresssequence:

firstimpressions

secondchance

thirdprize

Thesubclassofordinalsincludesasetofwordswhicharenotdirectlyrelatedtonumbers(asfirstisrelatedtoone,secondisrelatedtotwo,etc).Thesearecalledgeneralordinals,andtheyincludelast,latter,next,previous,andsubsequent.Thesewordsalsofunctionasdeterminers:

nextweek

lastorders

previousengagement

subsequentdevelopments

Whentheydonotcomebeforeanoun,aswe'vealreadyseen,numeralsareasubclassofnouns.Andlikenouns,theycantakedeterminers:

thetwoofus

thefirstofmany

Theycanevenhavenumeralsasdeterminersbefor