{"id":5128,"date":"2015-11-17T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2015-11-17T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5128"},"modified":"2015-11-02T22:04:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T03:04:45","slug":"is-it-this-or-is-it-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/is-it-this-or-is-it-that\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it ‘this’ or is it ‘that’?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>

Image by Robert Couse-Baker on Flickr.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

Do you know when to use the English words \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019 correctly? If you don\u2019t, you have come to the right place, because our topic today is the correct use of these words.<\/p>\n

\u2018This\u2019 and \u2018that\u2019 are words that fall into the category of words called demonstratives<\/em>.\u00a0 Demonstratives are words used to indicate something (i.e. a noun) that is being talked about (without using the thing\u2019s name) while at the same time giving some information about the thing\u2019s location. Demonstratives indicate distance or proximity of an object to the speaker or listener.<\/p>\n

\u2018This\u2019 and \u2018that\u2019 are also categorized as either pronouns or adjectives \u2013 depending on the usage of the word. When \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019 are used as pronouns they stand in place of a noun, usually a thing or a place. (It is best to use pronouns like \u2018he\u2019 or \u2018she\u2019 when refer to people rather than to use \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019.)\u00a0 When \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019 are used as adjectives they are being used to describe a noun, by giving more information about the location of the noun.<\/p>\n

Now, that you know how these words can be used, you might be asking yourself, \u2018so what is the difference between them anyway?\u2019 The difference is all related to distance. \u2018This\u2019 is used to talk about objects that are near and \u2018that\u2019 is used to talk about objects which are away or far from the speaker\/listener.<\/p>\n

this = near
\nthat = away or far<\/p>\n

Another way to say this is:<\/p>\n

this = here
\nthat = over there<\/p>\n

How will you decide what is near or far, here or there? A good rule to keep in mind is that if something is within your arm\u2019s reach (i.e. you can reach out and touch it) you should use \u2018this.\u2019\u00a0 If something is outside your arm\u2019s reach or something that you would need to have passed to you, then you should \u2018that.\u2019<\/p>\n

There are also often additional words used to indicate distance or relative distance when using the words \u2018this\u2019 and \u2018that.\u2019 For example:<\/p>\n

This<\/em> card right here<\/em> is the one I like the best.
\nThat<\/em> house over there<\/em> is where Jamal lives.<\/p>\n

In these examples the words \u201cright here\u201d and \u201cover there\u201d emphasize the distance of the object to the speaker. These words of emphasis are often used to make it clear what object or thing a person is talking about, but they are not always necessary. Often English speakers also point to the object they are talking about when using \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019 to make it even clearer what object they are talking about.<\/p>\n

The words \u2018this\u2019 and \u2018that\u2019 also have plural forms you should be aware of.<\/p>\n

this –> these
\nthat –> those<\/p>\n

The plural forms of these words are used in the same contexts as the singular forms.<\/p>\n

Now, try your hand at figuring out which word to use (\u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019) in the following sentences. Try to use the contextual clues in the sentence to help you make your choice.<\/p>\n

1) I had just picked up ___________ book from the table next to me when Pam walked in the room.
\n2) Kay sent me ___________ picture over there for my birthday.
\n3) ____________ kite up there is really high in the sky.
\n4) I want to eat _____________ muffin, can you pass it to me?
\n5) ___________ here pen is my favorite pen. I\u2019d be very sad if I lost it.<\/p>\n

I hope this lesson was beneficial to you – scroll down for the answers.<\/p>\n

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Answers: 1) this; 2) that; 3) that; 4) that; 5) this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Do you know when to use the English words \u2018this\u2019 or \u2018that\u2019 correctly? If you don\u2019t, you have come to the right place, because our topic today is the correct use of these words. \u2018This\u2019 and \u2018that\u2019 are words that fall into the category of words called demonstratives.\u00a0 Demonstratives are words used to indicate something…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":5129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[134956],"tags":[2900,386442,2847,2851],"class_list":["post-5128","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar","tag-demonstratives","tag-difference-between-this-and-that","tag-that","tag-this"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5128"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5199,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions\/5199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}