His another performance

Question

Hi!I read the follwoing question in an official TOEIC exam:"He gained national recognition with his ______ performance.(A) another(B) first"My question is this:Can you say "He gained national recognition with his another performance."I don't think it is possible because 'his' and 'another' are DETERMINERS and, usually, DETERMINERS can't be used at the same time.What do you think?Thanks in advance.

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Even though I am not accustomed to the term determiner, I can say that his another performance is ungrammatical. His cannot be followed by an: His an old father.

CB

Bender · Answer

By "at the same time" do you mean in succession or that they occur together? Remember, articles are determiners as well. I think you do have a case here which you describe as unusual; in the example above, "first" could be a determiner as well! Both "his" and "first" I believe to be determiners. "First" may not only be an adjective.

Now, the reason choice (A) is incorrect may be that "another" cannot function as an adjective after a personal pronoun. You have to use "other".

Niue · Answer

Thanks, Bender.

First of all, let me post the following grammar explanaiton about 'determiner':

"Determiners

GRAMMAR

A determiner is a word used in front of a noun to indicate whether you are referring to a specific thing or just to something of a particular type. There are two types of determiners: specific determiners and general determiners.

A. specific determiners
You use specific determiners when the person you are talking to will know which person or thing you are referring to. The specific determiners are:

- the definite article: `the'
- demonstratives: `this', `that', `these', `those'
- possessive determiners: `my', `your', `his', `her', `its', `our', `their'

B. general determiners
You use general determiners when you are mentioning people or things for the first time, or talking about them generally without saying exactly which ones you mean.
The general determiners are:
a, a few, a little, all, an, another, any, both, each, either , enough, every, few, fewer, less, little, many, more, most, much, neither, no, other, several, some" ((Collins Cobuild on CD-ROM))

My Opinion #1:

"His another performance" is grammatically wrong, because it has TWO determiners in succession. (The two determiners are "his" and "another". Please refer to the above excerpt.")

My Opinion #2:

"His other performance" is grammatically correct, because it does NOT have TWO determiners in succession BUT have a 'determiner + ADJECTIVE + noun' structure.

(In Collins Cobuild on CD-ROM, 'other' is describe as "ADJ: det ADJ, ADJ n".

In Longman Advanced American Dictionary, 'other' is described as "determiner adjective".

In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 'other' is described as "determiner, adjective".

In Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 'other' is described as "adj.".)

What do you think?

Thanks in advance.

BarbaraPA · Answer

You are correct.

His first performance is okay.
His last performance is okay.
His other performance is okay, as long as you have a context that makes sense.
His another performance is wrong.

Cool Breeze · Answer

In the word another an is an indefinite article even though another is one word and not spelt an other. The reason that his another performance is ungrammatical is that his, being a possessive word, cannot be followed by any article (a, an; the). No article is possible after my, your, his, her, its, our and their. No article is possible after a genitive either as it also indicates possession:

Tom Brown's other performance was a big success.
Susan's friend is here.

As far as I know, this grammatical feature is shared by all Germanic languages.

CB

Bender · Answer

I don't think the reason is because there are two determiners in succession per se. Here are two determiners in succession: I'm going to a third meeting. "Third" is both adjective and determiner. The list above is just a small sample of determiners. Ordinals can be used a determiners.

But I would agree that you cannot use those two ("his" and "another") determiners in succession, and I offered a guess as to why. My reason and your Opinion #2 are the same I think, just stated differently.

Bender · Answer

Cool BreezeIn the word another an is an indefinite article even though another is one word and not spelt an other. The reason that his another performance is ungrammatical is that his, being a possessive word, cannot be followed by any article (a, an; the). No article is possible after my, your, his, her, its, our and their. No article is possible after a genitive either as it also indicates possession:

Tom Brown's other performance was a big success.

Susan's friend is here.

As far as I know, this grammatical feature is shared by all Germanic languages.

CB

This looks to be the bottom line answer! Meaning, the OP's problem is not about determiners.

Niue · Answer

I've checked whether ordinals are adjective or determiner, and I've got the following result:

1. LDCE: adjective

2. OALD: determiner

3. LAAD: adjective

4. Collins Cobuild on CD-ROM: ordinal (I couldn't find any explanation that 'ordinals are determiners' in Collins Cobuild on CD-ROM.)

Bender · Answer

Ordinals can be determiners, or they may be used as determiners. It depends on how you use them. I did not say that "ordinals are determiners."

His another performance

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions