A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That: Demonstrative Pronouns Made Easy

You won’t have to speak English too long before you need to use demonstrative pronouns. These words (Ding! First demonstrative pronoun!) are very common and are used to indicate or refer to something that is obvious from context.

And yet, sometimes words that are very common can be a little tricky, and you can find yourself having some doubts on how to use them.

Fear no more! This guide will be informative and easy, and after you’ve read it you will have no more doubts about using this, that, these and those. Let’s go!

What is a demonstrative pronoun?

Demonstrative pronouns are used to indicate something in relation to the person who is talking.

If we mention something nearby, we use the word this. If it’s something far from us, we use that.

It’s as simple as that. Imagine that you are pointing at a cat. If the cat is close to you, you will say this cat, if the cat is far away from you, you will say that cat. It should be obvious from context what you are referring to, but there could also be other words that help to provide clear context:

• This book here is my favorite.
• This song we just heard always makes me happy.
• This person that entered just now, is my new boss.
• That store over there sells the best fruit.
• That movie we watched was thrilling.
• That was an incredible experience.

Plural form of demonstrative pronouns

That seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?

Let’s not forget to see how plurals work with all of this, because the plural forms of demonstrative pronouns are a little different from what you would expect. You can see the singular and plural forms in the table below.

Remember when pronouncing these words to differentiate between the short ‘i’ in this /ðɪs/ and the longer vowel sound in these /ðiːz/. Mixing these two forms is a common mistake, as we will see.

Where is that? A two-way distinction

Before we talk about different uses of demonstrative pronouns, let’s make sure that everybody understands well the meaning of the word that.

Many languages, including Portuguese, Korean, Serbo-Croatian and Japanese have a three-way distinction for demonstrative pronouns. These languages basically have one pronoun for something that is near the speaker, another for something that is close to the listener, and a third one for something that is far from both speaker and listener.

If your native language has a three-way distinction, it can be confusing at times to realize that there’s one word missing in English. If that’s the case, though, you don’t need to worry. English uses that for things close to the listener and things that are far from everybody.

Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns

So far we have talked only about demonstrative pronouns, but you might have noticed that we used both pronouns and adjectives in our examples. This is because there isn’t any difference in meaning – they just have a different grammatical function, or a different purpose, we might say.

In grammar, pronouns are all those words that stand in place of a noun.

Here’s an easy example:

* Tim always eats out. He doesn’t like to cook.

In this case the pronoun is ‘he’ in the second sentence. It stands in the place of the noun ‘Tim.’ If we didn’t have pronouns, we would have to constantly repeat what we just said, like this:

• Tim always eats out. Tim doesn’t like to cook. Yesterday Tim ordered a pizza, and Tim ate the pizza on the couch.

A little bit awkward, isn’t it? It’s much better to use pronouns.

Let’s now look at how we use demonstrative pronouns.

Demonstrative pronouns

Here’s a short conversation that a parent might have with their child in a store:

• Parent: What would you like to buy?
• Child: I want this (pointing to an object in the store).

The child uses the demonstrative pronoun this to replace the name of the object he wants.

Now imagine that you are walking out of the store, and you see someone opening the door to your car. You might say something like this:

• Hey, that’s my car!

In this sentence, the word that means ‘that car.’

Demonstrative adjectives

In contrast to pronouns, which replace a noun, adjectives are words that go together with a noun to describe it. This means that a demonstrative adjective will always be followed by a noun.

• This book is very interesting, I couldn’t stop reading it.
• These cookies smell delicious.
• I would really like to get that job.
• Those kids playing in the park are having a great time!

When we are pointing to one option out of many, it’s common to use the word one as a pronoun, to emphasize that we are referring to a specific single item. Look at these examples:

• I like all the dresses, but this one is my favorite.
• Can you pass me that one?

You can just imagine someone pointing at a specific object in these sentences.

Expressions with demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives are also part of many idiomatic phrases, fixed expressions used in everyday conversation. Here are the most common ones containing this, these, that and those.

Common mistakes

We have covered a lot of ground on demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, but before we wrap up, let’s look at one last important topic. As we have seen in this article, demonstratives are very common and actually quite simple.

This doesn’t mean, though, that as an enthusiastic English learner, you won’t make some mistakes using them from time to time. Knowing the theory is a slightly different thing from putting it into practice, so let’s take a look at the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

• Mixing singular and plural – this apples.
  Correction: Remember, this goes with singular nouns (this apple) and these with plural nouns (these apples).

• Mixing far and near – Can you give me that pen here?
  Correction: Use this and these for near objects and that and those for far objects. The word here means that the pen is close to the speaker, so the correct sentence is “Can you give me this pen here?”

• Incorrect subject-verb agreement – These is my favorite song.
  Correction: These is plural, but the verb is goes with a singular subject. We need to use the word this here – “This is my favorite song.” We would use these with the verb are (“These are my favorite songs”).

Avoid these common mistakes and you will be on the right road to mastering demonstrative pronouns and adjectives in no time!

Wrapping up

Understanding and using demonstrative pronouns like this, these, that and those is essential for clear and effective communication in English. Whether you’re pointing to an object or remembering past events, you will often need to use them in your everyday conversations.

Keep practicing, and soon using demonstratives will become second nature. Happy learning and enjoy your journey in the English language!