Grammar ?

[ToadMum]

Oh! I've called them determinate and indeterminate articles all my life.

Definite and indefinite articles everywhere that I've been and the children have never given me funny looks when I've used those terms, so I guess they may have escaped whatever they are calling them in SATs these days

[RedPanda]

I'm just glad I don't have to do the test myself...

Articles are adjectives because they describe the nouns that they precede. In the same way "one" can be used as an adjective.

[piggys]

RedPanda; at the risk of sounding pedantic I am going to ask you to clarify your comment. In what way is the definite (or indefinite) article describing the noun? I am honestly intrigued by your statement. They are NOT adjectives how can they be? they identify the noun, they do not describe it.

[RedPanda]

No problem piggys. You had me wobbling for a moment but I checked the dictionary (hard copy - old school, I know ) and it specifies that "a" is an adjective.

The way I would explain it is as follows: Adjectives can be used to state how many things there are. "Piggys kicked a ball" as opposed to "Piggys kicked several balls". A single ball rather than many of them.

It doesn't mean that "a" isn't an article, it just means it is both.

Hope that helps.

[piggys]

I'm sorry RedPanda but you are wrong on this; you cannot compare 'the' ball or 'a' ball with 'large' ball or 'red' ball. The first two identify the ball, the second two describe it. I have just trawled through my massive OED - which I think you will find is a reliable source - and find no trace of 'adjective' in the definitions for 'a', 'an', or 'the'.

I'm really not trying to sound patronising here but it does concern me that folk are genuinely convinced that adjectives and articles are the same thing or conflating the two.

I have noticed that many people now look up definitions and such on their phones and that a lot of misconceptions are developing; I was browsing one of the Manchester Grammar School's English exam papers the other day and I noticed they had asterisked the word 'miser' alongside an extract from 'Oliver Twist' and defined it as 'a greedy person' which is WRONG I was pretty outraged tbh. Very lazy and just wrong

I'd be interested in hearing from other English teachers too.

[yoyo123]

If adults are confused, can you imagine how 10 year olds feel?

[piggys]

Quite, yoyo. I am not at all impressed that the person responsible for setting an English exam at a top Grammar school doesn't even understand simple vocabulary. Very poor.

[salsa]

I think it would help if the original poster could put the source of the question and whether adjective was given as a valid answer.

I have also seen on line* some reference to 'the' being called an adjective in this context: He is the lawyer. Meaning that 'he would be a very good/respect/renowned lawyer.
I doubt, however, that for the purposes of an 11+ exam these words would be expected to be classed as anything other than an article, wouldn't they?

*(sorry, I'm on holiday and I don't have my printed dictionary)

Salsa

[workingmom]

Thank you everyone for taking time out to understand my question.

I agree: If we are so confused, how can we explain it to a 10 year old kid.

The resource was from an exercise where we are asked to find as many adjectives as possible:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practice-Makes ... 0071745475" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The example was:
"The waterslides are fun for everyone" - The "the" here is being marked as an adjective.
"Tina and her little brother Travis planned a big surprise party" - The "a" here is being marked as an adjective.

[piggys]

Quite simply, workingmom, the book is wrong. I notice on the reviews of the book that it uses American English - you can tell from the tenor of the examples you've given there. "The waterslide is fun" is not a very good example because actually 'fun' is an abstract noun although in this sentence it seems to be in place of an adjective

Please do not encourage your dc to regard' the' as an adjective

I'm actually worried that people are paying good money for this stuff.