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.
Rakesh kumar patel
Sunday 17th of September 2023
Nice lesson for demonstrative pronoun thanks for this
Pari. Maravi
Sunday 21st of March 2021
Hello