POST-DEICTIC MODIFIERS

e have already seen that indefinite quantifiers such as "some" or "enough" occupy the deictic slot, and how quantifiers function as pre-deictics. Quantifiers also function as "post-deictics", as in the following:-
e.g.	The few people who came soon left.
	The many interesting sights made the trip worthwhile.
As well as quantifiers, other words which can appear as post-deictics are numerals such as "two", "third" and so on, and general ordinals such as "last", "next", "other" etc.
e.g.	Take the first turning on the right.
	It's the last episode tonight

The word OWN is also used following the possessive, as an intensifier, and this gives the additional possibility of a prepositional group which marks possession as a qualifier.
e.g. He has	a	car	of his own.
	d	h	--- q ----

At this point it is worth considering how the relationship between deixis and the system of counting and quantifying is manifested in the contrasts which are expressed in the system of quantifiers. For instance, there is a contrast between "many" and "much" which is usually described in EFL textbooks as being related to the countable/uncountable distinction of the headword. This is of course true, but there are also other distinctions as may be seen from the following.
e.g.	(i) Many restrictions made things difficult.
	(ii) The many restrictions made things difficult.
	(iii) Much interest was shown in the new scheme.
	û (iv) The much interest was shown. û
While "many" appears as post-deictic, this is not the case with "much", which can only function either as deictic or pre-deictic.
e.g. Much of the trouble was due to bad workmanship.
In the case of example (i) above, the deictic is the "zero article", whereas in (iii) this is not the case since "much" cannot be preceded by another deictic. "Much" is thus itself a deictic paradigm, whereas "many" is not.
e.g. One of his many books.
There is also a contrast between "each" and "every" in the ways they may be used. "Each" can appear in the pre-deictic slot in the normal way.
e.g. Each of the boys received a prize.
"Every" cannot be used like this, but may appear in a rankshifted nominal group.
e.g.	Every one of the boys received a prize.
	Every bottle of Aunt Dhea's wine was drunk.
There is a system of contrasts which may be expressed by the words "few" and "little" as post-deictics, depending on which form of deictic is selected.
e.g.	(i) Few people in the audience liked the show.
	(ii) A few people in the audience liked the show.
	(iii) The few people in the audience liked the show.