April 17, 2019
Grammar

Demonstratives: This, that, these and those – English grammar courses

In this lesson we will study the demonstratives: This, that, these and those.

The demonstratives have the function of showing the position of something in relation to the speaker.

  • This:

“This” is singular, and refers to something that is near the speaker.

  • This is my house.
  • What is this?
  • This is my dog.
  • This is my friend.
  • This is my mother.
  • This is his car.

 

  • That:

“That” is also singular but unlike “This”, “That” is referring to something that is far from the speaker.

  • Do you see that house? It’s mine.
  • Is that a bird on the tree?
  • That person standing there is my father.
  • That dog belongs to my friend.
  • That girl over there is my sister.
  • That car is not mine.

 

  • These:

“These” is the plural of “This” and it has the same function but for plural noun.

  • These boys are my brothers.
  • Let me see these books.
  • Can I have these flowers?
  • Can you give me these pens?
  • These are my friends.
  • These books are all mine.

 

  • Those:

“Those” is the plural of “That” and it refers to many things that are far from the speaker.

  • Those things on the tree are birds.
  • I can see those men coming to us.
  • Are those my books?
  • Can you see those people?
  • I want to walk and see those houses.
  • Can you give me those pencils?

There is an important difference here between demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives. A demonstrative pronoun is something that stands on its own like “I like this”. A demonstrative adjective is something that changes the meaning of the noun that comes after like “I like this apple”.

 

Let’s do some exercises with what we have learned already. Replace the gaps with any of the demonstratives we learned in this lesson.

  1. I love _____ song.
  2. I want to climb up _____ mountain.
  3. Do you know who _____ people are?
  4. I want to buy _____ clothes.