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Demonstrative Pronouns

this, that, these, those

Demonstrative Pronouns

to 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, followed by an illustration:

This tastes good.
Have you seen this?
These are bad times.
Do you like these?
That is beautiful.
Look at that!
Those were the days!
Can you see those?
This is heavier than that.
These are bigger than those.

Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a demonstrative pronoun stands alone, while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.

That smells. (demonstrative pronoun)
That book is good. (demonstrative adjective + noun)

Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things only. But we can use them for people when the person is identified. Look at these examples:

This is Josef speaking. Is that Mary?
That sounds like John.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners.

As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:

These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
This [book in my hand] is well written;
that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:

You're going to wear these?
This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence.

When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.

This is my father.
That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."