This, That, These, and Those – An Easy Guide to English Demonstratives

Are you struggling in your English class trying to remember when to use this and that or these and those?

You’re not alone. Many English learners make this mistake in their writing and speaking.

This guide will help you understand exactly when to use each of these words correctly, so you can speak and write more fluently in your English.

What Are Demonstratives?

The English words this, that, these, and those are called demonstratives. To put Merriam-Webster’s definition in easier words: demonstratives are a part of speech in English that points out something a speaker is referring to and sets it apart from other nouns. The name and definition seem very difficult, but the concept is very easy to understand with pictures.

Take a look at the picture above. The sentence is: “I want to buy this apple, please.” The hand is pointing at the apple in the middle, not any of the apples on the sides. We know that the speaker wants the apple in the middle, because he or she used this.

Using words like this, that, these, and those saves speakers a lot of time. Imagine if you always had to say, “I want the blue sweater that is behind three other sweaters on the wall on the left side of the store” instead of simply, “I want that sweater.” We would have time no for our families, friends, sleep, or work!

What Are Demonstrative Determiners?

Another fancy word: determiner. It just means a word that shows which specific noun a speaker is talking about. A demonstrative determiner is one of the demonstrative words followed by a noun, e.g. “this apple“, “that book“, “these dogs,” or “those friends.”

How to Use This and That as Demonstrative Determiners

We’re finally at the part of this blog post that you’ve been waiting for. How to correctly use these words!

This and that are singular demonstrative determiners. Singular means there is only one of something while plural means two or more. We can only use this and that with singular nouns – we cannot use them with plural nouns.

This is used for singular nouns that are close to the speaker’s location while that is used for singular nouns that are not close to the speaker’s location. Let’s take a look at some example sentences:

When a Speaker Is Close to the Noun:

• Can I have this sweater?
• Where did you find this book?
• Why is this student so noisy today?
• May I sit in this seat?
• This mango is the tastiest mango I’ve ever eaten.

When a Speaker Is Far from the Noun:

• That pizza looks delicious.
• Why does that cat smell so bad?
• I like that car more than my car.
• That man scared me half to death!
• That movie is so funny!

How to Use These and Those as Demonstrative Determiners

These is simply just the plural form of this, and those is the plural form of that. These is for plural nouns close to the speaker while those is for plural nouns not close to the speaker.

When a Speaker Is Close to the Noun:

• Will you eat these sandwiches all by yourself?
• Why do these men wear so much cologne?
• These burgers are too expensive!
• I want to visit all of these countries.
• These mice are eating all of my cheese.

When a Speaker Is Far from the Noun:

• Those sunglasses look great on you!
• Those windows are broken.
• Do you like those singers better than me?
• Those guinea pigs are cuter than anything I’ve ever seen.
• Those TV shows are too violent for me.

What Are Demonstrative Pronouns?

If you remember from previous lessons, pronouns are words like I (subject pronoun), she (subject pronoun), you (subject and object pronoun), us (object pronoun), and them (object pronoun) that replace a noun to make language sound more natural. We can do the same thing with our demonstratives this, that, these, and those. When we use these words in this way, they’re called demonstrative pronouns.

Demonstrative pronouns have the same rules as demonstrative determiners for singular nouns vs. plural nouns and close to the speaker vs. far from the speaker, but they don’t need a noun after them. Instead, you just use them by themselves as a pronoun. You’ll see from the examples that sometimes we don’t know what the speaker is talking about without context. Look at these sentences for grammatically correct ways to use our demonstrative pronouns:

When a Speaker Is Close to the Noun:

• This is a really interesting comic.
• These are tasty candies.
• This is your package.
• I can’t remember what this is.
• How are these going to help us?

When a Speaker Is Far from the Noun:

• What are those!?
• That is not allowed in this museum, young man!
• I can’t believe you ate all of those.
• That is a very beautiful picture of the ocean.
• When will that be done?

Using This, That, These, and Those for Ideas and Events

You can also use this, that, these, and those to refer to certain kinds of nouns that are not physically present, especially ideas or events, both as demonstrative determiners and demonstrative pronouns. When talking about time and events, that and those are usually used for things that happened in the past while this and these are usually used for things that are happening now or in the future – you will sometimes see exceptions. Let’s look at some more examples of our demonstrative words:

• I didn’t forget about that time you never paid me back.
• This is my favorite day ever.
• Remember our French classes? Those were so boring.
• Those friends we met last night drank way too much. I bet they feel sick today.
• I will never forgive you for this!

Pop Quiz

1. Are you going to eat ____? (the food is far from the speaker)
2. Should I wear ____? (the shirt is close to the speaker)
3. ____ are the best games ever. (the games are close to the speaker)
4. Where are you going with ____ things? (the items are far from the speaker)

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That does it for this guide to this, that, these, and those. If you have any questions about the lesson, answers to the pop quiz, or if you just want to say hi, leave a comment below! Want to learn more about English grammar or pronunciation? Check out my guide to synonyms and antonyms or my 3 tips for speaking English better.