GRAMMAR

Demonstratives - This, That, These, Those

What are demonstratives?

Demonstratives are words that show which person or thing is being referred to. In the sentence:

'This is my brother',

'this' is a demonstrative

The demonstratives in English are this, that, these, and those

Demonstrative pronouns vs demonstraive adjectives

A distinction must be made between demonstrative adjectives (or demonstrative determiners) and demonstrative pronouns (or independent demonstratives).

A demonstrative adjective modifies a noun:

This apple is good. I like those houses. (This modifies 'apple' and those modifies 'houses')

A demonstrative pronoun stands on its own, replacing rather than modifying a noun:

This is good. I like those. (This and those don't modify any nouns they stand alone and replace other nouns)

Use of demonstratives

Demonstratives differ according to:

ditance: near or far,

or number: singular or plural.

Here are the main distinctions:

This modifies or refers to singular nouns that are near to the speaker.

That modifies or refers to singular nouns that are far from the speaker.

These modifies or refers to plural nouns that are near to the speaker.

Those modifies or refers to plural nouns that are far from the speaker.