English demonstrative pronouns

Lesson outline

1.What are demonstrative pronouns?
1.1.Demonstrative pronouns with examples:
1.2.Difference between demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives
1.3.Other uses of demonstrative pronouns
1.3.1.Examples:
1.3.2.Examples:
2.Exercises
2.1.This, that, these, those exercises
2.2.English Demonstrative pronouns worksheet
2.3.English Demonstrative pronouns exercise

What are demonstrative pronouns?

Demonstrative pronouns are used to point to something and determine their location in time and space (distance). As with other pronouns, they replace the noun and stand on their own, therefore, generally it is necessary that the noun they replace has already been discussed or the context is understandable by the listener or reader.

There are only four demonstrative pronouns - this, that, these, those. They only differ whether they are used to refer to a singular or plural noun and based on whether they are close or far in time and space. The rules from the table below are applicable in all cases:

	Close	Far
Singular	This	That
Plural	These	Those

Demonstrative pronouns list: this, that, these, those

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Demonstrative pronouns with examples:

This is amazing.
These are my new ropes. What do you think?
I don't think those will fit your style.
I want to try that in the future.

Difference between demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives

Demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives use the same words we already showed you in this lesson. However, they are used to express different things as you can see in the table below:

Demonstrative	Use when	Example
Pronoun	It can stand alone and the context is known. It replaces the noun.	This is delicious.
Adjective	It qualifies a noun and is placed right before it in a sentence.	This cake is delicious.

Other uses of demonstrative pronouns

1. We use "This" to present animals, things, places, and people.

Examples:

This is my cat, Roxy.
This is Rome. It's beautiful.
This is my brother, George.

2. We use "That" to refer to something in the past:

That was incredible.

3. We previously told you that the context generally needs to be known by the listener. However, in some more rare cases "This" is used to refer to a situation that might not be known by the listener but by the speaker.

Examples:

This is ridiculous.
I can't believe this. I am so angry.

4. To identify yourself and others on a phone call we use "this" and "that". It is the appropriate phone conversation etiquette.

This is Inna calling. Is that Elena?

This, that, these, those exercises