What is a specifier? And can you please give me some examples?


It depends on the particular grammatical framework your are studying, but generally it's just another term for the function performed in a noun phrase by a 'determinative' like "a", "the" "some", "any" etc.

For example, in "I have a big red car", the word "a" is a determinative functioning as a specifier. And in "Ed has fifty sheep", the word "fifty" is a determinative functioning as a specifier. Similarly, in "The lecture has started", the word "the" is a determinative functioning as a specifier.

Specifiers normally occur immediately before the head of the noun phrase.

In the latest grammars, the word 'determiner' is widely used instead of 'specifier' for the function performed by determinatives.

Why do you ask?




PaulM

honestly i have a grammar exam in the next three days but as an Arab student
English is considered as a third language and not the first in my country and if i had to say this...as a student who learns in the collage they expect us to know this terms by ourselves and i couldn't find any appropriate explanation on the internet so i had some problems studying without knowing what do these terms describe and what are their position in the phrase structure in English.

im really thankful that you answered my question .

I understand.

Please remember that we don't use the term 'specifier' much nowadays. It is out-of-date and has been replaced by the word determiner.



PaulM