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Four small words for pointing clearly to people, things, and ideas in the room.
Use this for one nearby thing and these for several nearby things. That points to one farther thing, while those points to several farther things.
Updated: July 2026
A1 · Determiners · 9 min
A structured ten-slide lesson for A1 learners. Hear the four demonstratives in context, organise them by distance and number, and practise them around a meeting room. The whole arc takes about nine minutes and requires no signup.
*This*, *that*, *these*, and *those* let you point with language to people, objects, or ideas. Each choice gives your listener two pieces of information at once: how near the referent feels from your viewpoint, and whether you mean one unit or more than one. In a meeting room, a folder in your hand can be *“this folder.”* Two samples beside you can be *“these samples.”* A screen across the room can be *“that screen,”* and several figures on it can be *“those figures.”* The words do not replace an exact location, but they help two speakers identify the same referent. Near and far depend on the situation and the speaker’s viewpoint. You do not measure a fixed number of metres; you present something as close or more distant. The same principle can extend to ideas and parts of a conversation, because a point you are discussing can feel linguistically near. At A1, however, visible people and objects provide the clearest starting point. If you can literally or mentally point, these four words answer a practical question: which person, object, or group do you mean?
The choice becomes easy when you split it into two small decisions. First ask whether the person or thing is near you or farther away. *This* and *these* belong to the near side; *that* and *those* belong to the far side. Then ask whether you mean one unit or more than one. For a singular referent, choose *this* when it is near and *that* when it is far. For plural referents, choose *these* when they are near and *those* when they are far. This produces a simple four-square grid. In *“This report is ready,”* *report* is one nearby item. In *“Those reports are ready,”* several reports are farther away. You can often see number in both the noun and the verb: *report is* is singular, while *reports are* is plural. The demonstrative must fit that same number. You can therefore check a sentence from three sides: the pointing word, the noun form, and the verb. When all three express the same number, the sentence is stable. Ask the questions in the same order — distance first, number second — until the four combinations become automatic.
All four demonstratives can stand directly before a noun. In that position, they identify which person or thing you mean: *“this plan,” “that colleague,” “these samples,”* or *“those numbers.”* Describing words can appear between the demonstrative and the noun, as in *“these new samples.”* The demonstrative stays at the front of the noun phrase and still agrees with distance and number. The same four words can also appear without a following noun when the situation makes the referent clear. You hold up a report and say *“This is ready.”* You point to two tables on a screen and ask *“Are those correct?”* Here the demonstrative itself occupies the place of the intended person or thing. The core decision does not change. *This* and *that* remain singular, while *these* and *those* remain plural. The contrast is especially audible with *be*: *“This is”* and *“That is”* stand opposite *“These are”* and *“Those are.”* Instead of memorising only four isolated words, learn frequent chunks such as *“This is …”* and *“Those are …”* so that number agreement becomes part of the phrase you produce.
*This* has an especially useful role in introductions. If Ana is beside you, you can say *“This is my colleague Ana.”* You introduce one person who is present in your immediate situation. On the phone, you also use *this* to identify yourself: *“Hello, this is Tom speaking.”* The question for the other person can vary by regional habit. American English commonly uses *“Who is this?”* while British English more often uses *“Who’s that?”* Both questions are understood everywhere. Learners can treat these as practical phone chunks while keeping the basic viewpoint in mind: the speaker identifies himself or herself with *this* and may address the person at the other end with *that*. In a physical meeting room, the same perspective is visible. *“This is Ana”* introduces the colleague at your side; *“That is Leo by the screen”* identifies one person farther away. With groups, number must again agree: *“These are my colleagues”* for people close to you and *“Those are our clients”* for a group presented as farther away.
The most common error appears when a learner notices distance but misses number. German forms such as *das* or *dies-* do not map word for word onto the four-part English system, so *“this books”* can easily slip into a sentence. English cannot combine singular *this* with plural *books*. Several nearby books require *“these books.”* The reverse mismatch appears in *“those book.”* One farther book is *“that book,”* while several are *“those books.”* After choosing the demonstrative, immediately check the noun form and then the verb. A second difficulty is sound. *These* is pronounced /ðiːz/, while *those* is /ðəʊz/. The long vowel in *these* and the moving vowel in *those* need to remain clearly different. If you learn the words only from spelling, the contrast can blur when you listen. Practise them as a pair: *“these and those.”* Then attach each sound to a simple image — several things here, several things there. That approach trains pronunciation and meaning together instead of asking you to memorise two similar-looking forms in isolation.
Demonstratives share a noun-phrase job with articles and possessive words: they narrow down which noun you mean. You can say *“this report”* or *“a report,”* but you do not stack both choices before the same noun. Similarly, *“my report”* and *“this report”* classify the same object in different ways. A possessive word identifies a relationship such as ownership, while a demonstrative points to a referent in the situation. A clear A1 noun phrase normally needs one such determining element. Adjectives and the noun can follow it, as in *“these new samples”* or *“that important figure.”* This structure is useful at work because it lets you separate documents, people, and results quickly. Place one report in front of you and say *“This report is final.”* Point to several values on a screen and say *“Those figures need checking.”* First decide what you want to indicate; then check distance and number; finally build the complete noun phrase. The related lessons *a-an-basics* (A1) and *possessive-adjectives-pronouns* (A1) show the neighbouring choices: introducing a noun with an article or with a possessive word.
This identifies one nearby person or thing, while these identifies several nearby people or things. That is singular and farther away; those is plural and farther away. Your choice therefore depends on distance and number.
This is singular, but books is plural. Several nearby books require "these books." For one nearby book, use "this book."
Yes. When the situation makes the referent clear, each of the four words can stand alone: "This is Ana" or "Those are new." The rules for distance and number stay the same.
American English commonly uses "Who is this?" British English more often uses "Who’s that?" Both forms are understood everywhere.
You can begin this lesson directly at A1. *singular-plural-nouns* (A1) helps you distinguish singular and plural, while *a-an-basics* (A1) expands your noun-phrase skills. Next, *possessive-adjectives-pronouns* (A1) gives you another way to identify people and things.
That survives from the Old English neuter form þæt. Old English once had gendered demonstrative forms: se, sēo, and þæt. Modern that is a surviving piece of that older system.
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