Demonstrative Pronouns in English: Meaning, Usage and Examples
Almost every time you use your finger to point at something, you’ll need to use a demonstrative pronoun.
This and that are among the most common demonstrative pronouns, but there are more!
Read on to learn all about different demonstrative pronouns and how to use them.
Contents
- Why Learn Demonstrative Pronouns?
- What Is a Demonstrative Pronoun?
- Demonstrative Pronouns vs. Demonstrative Adjectives
- How to Use Demonstrative Pronouns
- 7 English Demonstrative Pronouns
- Summary: All About Demonstrative Pronouns
- English Demonstrative Pronoun Exercises
- And One More Thing...
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Why Learn Demonstrative Pronouns?
Learning how to recognize and use demonstrative pronouns is very important, for several reasons:
- We hear demonstrative pronouns all the time in daily conversations, movies and TV shows, books and songs. So learning them means you will be able to understand more of your favorite English media.
- Demonstrative pronouns make speaking English easier. By using words like this and that instead of repeating the name of a noun, we sound more natural.
- Knowing demonstrative pronouns is essential to getting high scores on English proficiency tests.
What Is a Demonstrative Pronoun?
What Is a Pronoun?
First thing is first, what is a pronoun?
You may already know that a pronoun is a word that substitutes (replaces) a noun, or any other part of the sentence functioning as a noun.
Let’s use this sentence as an example:
This little boy is very clever.
This little boy is a noun phrase that’s the subject of the whole sentence. We can replace this little boy with the word he to get the sentence:
He is very clever.
In this sentence, the word he is a pronoun.
Let’s take a look at a few more examples with pronouns:
Mary and I go shopping every Tuesday. → We go shopping every Tuesday.
My dad wants to buy those shoes. → He wants to buy them (or those).
John went to Tom’s place to take care of the dog. → He went to Tom’s place to take care of it.
What Is a Demonstrative?
On the other hand, a demonstrative is a word we use to refer to objects or people, and their distance in space or time in relation to a speaker.
In other words, a demonstrative is a word we use to point or refer to things or people that can be near or far from us (in time or in space, as you will see later).
One example of a demonstrative can be seen in the sentence:
This car costs too much.
In this case, the word this is a demonstrative.
So, What Is a Demonstrative Pronoun?
Put all the information about pronouns and demonstratives together, and you get that a demonstrative pronoun is a word that replaces a noun phrase and indicates whether it is near or far in time or space.
The noun phrase may have been mentioned before, or be understood from context.
Whatever the case, the demonstrative pronoun takes the place of the noun phrase, which is known as the antecedent. An antecedent is a person or object being replaced by a pronoun.
Let’s look at some examples:
This is delicious.
As readers, we do not know what this means, but the person saying the sentence and the people around him will understand what he is talking about because he is eating it.
Let’s say that he is eating a cookie. Therefore, the word this refers to the cookie.
In this sentence, the cookie is the antecedent.
Here’s another example:
Please, put these in the fridge.
Let’s say the person speaking is holding bananas. They don’t need to say the word bananas because they are holding them. In other words, it is obvious that they are talking about bananas.
In this sentence, the word bananas is the antecedent because it’s what the pronoun these is referring to.
Finally, demonstrative pronouns also tell us about the number (singular or plural) of the noun, but they do not change with gender (masculine or feminine):
Do you want this? (This is singular and refers to a thing or a person that is close.)
Are those yours? (Those is plural and refers to things or people that are far.)
Demonstrative Pronouns vs. Demonstrative Adjectives
Demonstratives can be adjectives or pronouns.
This, that, these and those are actually the most common demonstrative pronouns, but they can also be used as demonstrative adjectives.
So how are demonstrative pronouns different from demonstrative adjectives?
This table sums it up:
| Demonstrative Pronoun | Demonstrative Adjective |
|---|---|
| Replaces a noun | Modifies a noun |
| Stands alone | Followed by a noun |
| "I love this." | "I love this bag." |
There are only two rules you have to remember:
1. Demonstrative adjectives modify a noun, so there’s always a noun afterwards.
For example:
That pizza looks delicious.
Dad, can we get these puppies?
They were very happy all those years.
2. Demonstrative pronouns replace the noun and always stand alone.
In other words, they don’t have a noun following them:
That looks delicious.
Dad, can we get these?
Those were happy years.
Easy, isn’t it?
How to Use Demonstrative Pronouns
Normally, replacing a noun phrase with a demonstrative pronoun is not very challenging (difficult).
After so many years of teaching English, I have learned that the best way to see the main English demonstrative pronouns is by putting them in a table:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Near | this | that |
| Far | these | those |
The most important thing to take into account is the number of the noun:
- If the noun is singular, use either this or that.
- If the noun is plural, use either these or those.
The next step is to determine whether the noun is near or far from the speaker:
- If it is near, you will have to use this or these.
- If it is far, you will use that or those.
Here are some examples:
This is fantastic! (Singular, near)
Those were the days! (Plural, far)
That was very nice of you. (Singular, far)
I love these, but I will buy those. (Plural, near, then plural, far)
7 English Demonstrative Pronouns
Now that the basics are clear, let’s have a look at each pronoun separately.
Many learners do not know there are other demonstrative pronouns aside from this, that, these and those, but don’t worry, they are equally easy to master.
This
Our first pronoun is this. It refers to an antecedent that is both singular and close to the speaker:
This is amazing!
This is Mary and this is Julia.
John gave me this for you.
I’ll have this and this.
In all the examples, this can mean anything from a dress to a person. The use of this in these sentences tells us the antecedent is singular and close to the person talking.
That
The pronoun that refers to a singular antecedent, but in this case, it is far from the speaker, either in space or time:
That is a suspicious guy.
That was the week I met Sonia.
Do you really want to buy that?
This is Mary, and that over there is Michael.
These
The pronoun these is the plural counterpart (someone or something that has the same function) of this.
We use it when the antecedent is close to the speaker and plural:
These are beautiful. Thank you!
I’ll have these, please.
These are amazing. Where can I buy them?
These are troubled times.
Those
This pronoun refers to antecedents that are both far from the speaker and plural. It is the plural counterpart of that:
Those are big houses.
I have decided to buy those.
Those were so dirty I had to throw them away.
Those were the best years of my life.
Such
My students are always surprised when I tell them there are more than just four demonstrative pronouns.
One of these “surprising” pronouns is such.
Dictionaries define such as “someone or something of the kind that has been previously mentioned or is about to be mentioned.”
This definition can help us understand that such refers to nouns or noun phrases (antecedents), so it should not be a big surprise that it is a demonstrative pronoun.
Such is a special kind of pronoun, though.
It does not change with gender or number, and it can be used to refer to masculine, feminine, singular and plural antecedents:
Such was his determination that he did not sleep for three days.
We can’t do anything. Such is life.
Such were the rules, sorry!
Such are his ways. (This is how he does things.)
None
The demonstrative pronoun none is really a shortened form of not one, and it means exactly that: not one, not any.
Despite including the number one in it, none can be used with both singular and plural antecedents:
There is none left. (Referring to something singular and normally uncountable such as water, flour or ketchup.)
There are none left. (Referring to a plural antecedent such as books, glasses or apples.)
Here is a trick that may help you remember none easily: it is the only demonstrative pronoun that cannot be a demonstrative adjective.
This means a sentence where none is directly followed by a noun will always be incorrect.
For example, you would never say: “None university accepted him.” Instead, you would say: “No university accepted him.”
However, these sentences work:
None of the universities accepted him.
None of the kids were happy.
Neither
You have probably used neither many times when you wanted to say that you did not want any of two possible options. In these cases, nor usually appears in the sentence as well:
Neither John nor Mary was ready to go.
However, when neither functions as a demonstrative pronoun, it likes to do its job alone:
Neither of them is mine.
I will take neither. (I will not take any of these two.)
Neither will work properly after this. (Neither this one nor that one will work properly after this.)
Neither is also easy to remember because it is the only demonstrative pronoun that is always singular, which means that the verb will always be singular.
For example, this sentence is correct:
Neither of the answers is correct.
This sentence is incorrect:
Neither of the answers are correct.
Summary: All About Demonstrative Pronouns
English demonstrative pronouns are easy to understand and even easier to learn.
They are used in a very straightforward (simple) way, and while they can be used to refer to almost any noun phrase, you should remember there are a couple of rules they have to follow.
On the one hand, this and these are used for antecedents that are close to the speaker, while on the other hand, that and those are used for antecedents that are far from the speaker.
In addition, you should not forget that such, none and neither are also demonstrative pronouns. They may not be used as often as the previous four, but they are also very useful and important.
English Demonstrative Pronoun Exercises
Now that you have learned the demonstrative pronouns in English, why not practice them some?
Here you have five of my favorite English demonstrative pronouns exercise pages:
- Curso-Inglés: You will find two exercises on demonstrative pronouns at the end of the page, right after the grammar explanations.
- English Exercises: Here you have a fun exercise on demonstrative pronouns. Learn how to introduce The Simpsons’ main characters!
- Your Dictionary: On this site, you will find a short quiz to check what you have learned in this post. You will need to have a clear understanding of the difference between subject and object for this one.
- Perfect English Grammar: Here’s a challenge for you! There are 20 sentences in this exercise. Can you tell if this/that/these/those are adjectives or pronouns in each of them?
The FluentU learning program provides additional chances to study demonstrative pronouns in context. While it’s not focused specifically on the pronouns, it has videos and learning tools that have many ways to see the pronouns in use.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
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And that’s all for today, my friends!
Stay curious, and as always, happy learning!
And One More Thing...
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If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
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FluentU lets you learn engaging content with world famous celebrities.
For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
FluentU lets you tap to look up any word.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with quizzes. Swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you’re learning.
FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
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