DEMONSTRATIVE AND POSSESSIVE DETERMINATIVES
Demonstratives: this, that, these, those
These items particularize the NG referent by indicating whether it is near (this, these) or not near (that, those) the speaker, in space or time or psychologically, as explained for demonstrative pronouns. They can refer to both human and non-human entities in both singular and plural (this century, these girls, that cat, those brakes).
Like the demonstrative pronouns, the determinatives are used with anaphoric, cataphoric and situational reference.
The determinatives this and these are also used to introduce a new topic entity into the discourse. This use is particularly common in anecdotes, stories and jokes:
I’m walking along the street when this man comes up to me and says . . .
Possessive determinatives
These include not just the possessive determinatives my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their, but also the inflected ’s genitive form. The ’s determinative is formally a NG plus an inflected genitive morpheme. By convention, the apostrophe is placed before the s with a singular noun, but after it with a regular plural noun in s. Com pare: the boy’s bicycle, the boys’ bicycles. With a name of three syllables or more ending in -s, the apostrophe tends to be placed after the s: Socrates’ wisdom. With a name of two syllables, the placement of the s is optional: Dr. Davis’ surgery, Dr. Davis’s surgery, the latter case reflecting the additional syllable in speech:/deivisiz/.
The inflection is added not merely to the head noun but to the group as a whole:
My supervisor’s advice; my mother and father’s wishes. I liked those other children’s paintings very much.
That young Japanese pianist’s performance was wonderful.
