lecture 5

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 demonstrative 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:
• distance: 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
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