Demonstratives Adjectives & Pronouns – This, That, These, Those

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Demonstratives – This, That, These, Those! Demonstratives are words, such as this and that, used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others.

In the sentence:

‘This is my brother’,

‘this‘ is a demonstrative

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

Demonstrative Pronouns vs Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative Definition

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

A demonstrative adjective modifies a noun:

• Example: 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:

• Example: 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:

• Distance: near or far,
• 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.

Demonstratives | Infographic