In traditional classification, some word classes such as articles, demonstratives and possessives fall into the category of limiting adjectives but why are they categorized as 'determiners' in today's grammar?
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1Is a determiner considered an adjective or a separate part? begins to address this. Determiners are used to give the setting for a noun's referent, adjectives largely information about its nature / inherent properties. 'The next train' is essentially setting the context, ie where the referent is in the daily timetable when compared with earlier and later trains. 'The long train' is focusing on the train.– Edwin AshworthApr 3, 2017 at 15:48
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1In fact, ancient Greek grammarians recognised articles as a separate part of speech, and some traditional English grammars have done so, though others dropped them under the influence of Latin grammarians (Latin has no articles). What's happened is that people have realised that (in English) the other determiners have a lot more in common with the articles than they have with normal adjectives.– rjpondOct 9, 2017 at 6:41
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