This / That - These / Those

Demonstrative Pronouns

demonstrate (verb): to show; to indicate; to point to

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

• near in distance or time (this, these)
• far in distance or time (that, those)

	near	far
singular	this	that
plural	these	those

Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns:

Demonstrative Pronouns vs Demonstrative Adjectives

Sometimes people tend to confuse demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives. After all, the words are identical. The difference is that a demonstrative pronoun can stand alone. A demonstrative adjective will always qualify a noun. Here are some examples:

I wanted that. (Here that is used as a demonstrative pronoun that stands alone.)

That cake tastes awesome. (In this case that is used as a demonstrative adjective that qualifies the noun cake.)

In some cases demonstrative pronouns can refer to people if the person is identified.

Is that Jim?
This is Jack speaking.

Remember, when using demonstrative pronouns they do not qualify a noun. They stand alone. Other points to remember are this and that are singular and refer to something near to the speaker in time and place. These and those are plural referring to things farther away in time and space. Learning these simple rules will help you use demonstrative pronouns correctly.