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Demonstrative pronouns ‘this, that’ & ‘these, those’

(Use of the demonstratives ‘this, that, these, those’ in English)

Table of contents – demonstrative pronouns

On this page you will find the following:

1. Forms of demonstrative pronouns

2. Word order and functions in a sentence

3. Local and temporal aspects

4. Further explanations and exercises

What are the English demonstrative pronouns?

In general, demonstrative pronouns are small words that point to something. There are just four in the
English language, which are ‘this, that’ and ‘these, those’. Their meaning only differs in terms
of singular and plural (which means the number of the antecedent they refer to) and how far away the
antecedent is located from the speaker.

Independently, they can refer to things but also to persons:

 “Those  houses up there are huge.”

o In this example, the things are the huge houses.

 “This  is my sister.”

o In this sentence, somebody introduces a person.

Forms

The English demonstrative pronouns never change; they always keep the forms listed in the following
table. Compare:

  Close to the speaker Farther away from the speaker

Singular this that

Plural these those

Where can demonstratives be positioned in an English sentence?

A further distinction regarding English demonstrative pronouns has to be made between their use in
combination with a noun, on the one hand, and their isolated occurrence (which means they stand
alone), on the other hand. Compare the details:

 If ‘this, that, these, those’ are used in conjunction with a noun, they adopt the role of
a determiner (which means they accompany the noun and always appear together with it). If
this is the case, the noun is positioned either directly after the pronoun or after a subsequent
adjective:

o “I have never seen  that  woman.”

 In this example, the noun ‘woman’ comes directly after the pronoun ‘that’.

o “This  old  mirror  belonged to my grandmother.”

 By all means, an adjective (as ‘old’ in this instance) may be positioned between

the pronoun and the noun.

 Likewise, ‘this, that, these’, and ‘those’ may also occur alone, which means without a noun.
Then, the antecedent may be located in a different part of the sentence (as shown in the table
of functions below) or may not be present in the sentence at all. In case of such an absence, the
pronoun always points to something that is known to all persons that are involved in the
communication:

o “That  is a terrible  idea.”

 The noun ‘idea’ as the antecedent appears at the end of the sentence, the
pronoun ‘that’ at the beginning.

o “This  is absolute nonsense!”

 This utterance is about a matter that has been mentioned before. Otherwise,
the statement would not be clear and ambiguous.

 Do not forget: Without a noun as an antecedent, pronouns always have to point to

something known.

Functions in the sentence

In a sentence, pronouns can adopt the functions as a subject and also as an object. Always keep
the English word order S–V–O in mind:

Demonstrative pronoun … Subject Verb Object Adverbial (place, time, manner,

That costs a lot of money.  

… without a noun (stand-alone)
I have bought these today.

… with a noun (as a determiner) This lady needs some help.  

Demonstrative pronoun … Subject Verb Object Adverbial (place, time, manner,

Monica liked those flowers very much.

How are ‘this, these, that’, and ‘those’ used?

Demonstrative pronouns can be used differently in English, as they may point to various aspects. As a
result, the main distinction is made between place and time:

Referring to place (local)

If the words ‘this, that’ and ‘these, those’ directs to places – which means with local aspect –, the
distance between the speaker and the place referred to needs to be considered. Is the object (or
person) near, which means the speaker can reach it, ‘this’ or ‘these’ are used. Is this not the case, ‘that’
and ‘those’ are suitable. Compare the details:

 If the pronoun refers to something in close proximity, either ‘this’ or ‘these’ is adequate:

o “This  chair is very comfortable.”

 In this situation, the speaker can touch the chair.

o “This  town offers a lot of culture.”

 This example describes the surroundings (as a town cannot really be ‘touched’).
The speaker is standing somewhere in the town.

o “Would you like to try one of  these  cookies?”

 The cookies are located within reach of the questioner.

 On the contrary, ‘that’ and ‘those’ are required if something is beyond the personal reach:

o “Look, I went to  that  school when I was young.”

 The school can be seen from the distance.

o “Those  little dogs were so sweet.”

 The dogs are clearly not at the same place as the speaker anymore.

Referring to time (temporal)

Whenever they refer to temporal aspects, ‘this, that, these, those’ also have a special meaning. The
main difference here is the fact if something chronologically points to the present or the past. If it is still
a current matter, ‘this’ and ‘these’ are usually employed, whereas ‘that’ and ‘those’ are adequate for
something chronologically completed. This differentiation means in detail:

 ‘this’ and ‘these’ mainly refer to periods of time that have not ended yet, in other words, in
the present. They also point to actions that are happening now in which the speaker is involved:

o “This  week has been horrible!”

  The week has not ended yet.

o “This  show is simply amazing.”

 The speaker is watching the show right now.

o “Almost everybody has a car  these  days.”

 The statement is about the present and hence refers to a current situation.

 ‘that’ and ‘those’ are very often used to indicate past time. They can also designate finished
actions or processes:

o “I will never forget  that  week.”

 This comment is about an experience in the past.

o “That  performance wasn’t very interesting.”

 In this case, the show (which means the process) is already over.

o “We really enjoyed  those  four days in London.”

 The speakers are no longer in London; the visit there is over.

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