You think that the demonstrative pronoun in English are only made to annoy to you, truth? Demonstrative means €œShowing, doing clearly something€. And you will think that it is a cruel irony of the destiny because the only thing who you know clearly is really the headache that causes to you to study them.
Or by differences as far as the distance or not to distinguish plural singulars and, the €œDemonstrative Pronouns€ can create certain mess while we described the location of certain object. You do not worry, you only need to know all the information and to have organized it and structured in your mind. When you finish reading this article you have all the cleared doubts and you know, in addition, to distinguish between the demonstrative pronoun and the demonstrative adjectives 🙂
The habit makes the monk, yes, we know it. Without the practice we will not be able to never dominate a language, but to have a base of clear theory is important to study it and is the first step. You cannot begin constructing a house by the tile roof. That is why, in That €˜s Cool Education we have prepared the best theory and the best practice so that you go to your own rate, but without stopping advancing. Demonstrate it to you same, never rather! 😛
What are the demonstrative pronoun and how they are used?
The demonstratives in English are words that determine the range or location to which is an object within a phrase. That is to say, if the object at issue is close:
€œThis€: this, this, this.
€œThese€: these, these.
And if it is far, to use the following:
€œThat €œ: that, that, that/that one, that one, that one.
€œThose€: those, those/those, those.
We go there with a few examples to see it everything more clearly 😉
I like this to car. €“ I like this car.
I like that to car. €“ I like that car.
I like these cars. €“ I like these cars.
I like those cars. €“ I like those cars.
The demonstrative pronoun can go accompanied of a name as we see in the previous examples, or can go single as in the following, replacing the name and becoming thus nouns:
This is to good book. €“ This one is a good book.
What is that? €“ What is that?
Sort and number
Perhaps sometimes the use of the demonstratives in English seems to you muddied, but we have the good news for you: whereas in Spanish each one of the demonstrative pronouns and adjectives have sort, as the name or adjective to which they accompany, in English they do not have (). It observes if you do not create the following examples to us:
This wall is clean. €“ This wall is clean.
That house is white. €“ That house is white.
For that reason you have to skip this step and to only think about the number. Because that yes, the demonstratives do not need to agree in sort, but in number. You must pay attention to if there are to use it in plural singular or:
Those cars plows big. €“ Those cars are great.
These apples plows network. €“ These apples are red.
The collective nouns as €œChildren€, €œMen €œ, €œWomen €œ, €œPeople €œor €œWizards€ (we because we are more of €œGryffindor€) go accompanied of the pronouns in plural €œThese €œor €œThose€, as in the following examples:
Does Who plow those people? €“ Who is that people?
These my children broke bike. €“ These children broke my bicycle.
Difference between demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjectives
It is possible that you have confusion between the demonstrative pronoun and the demonstrative adjectives. Because no, they are not the same. We see the differences and we clarify concepts, because although you it does not seem it is well easy to distinguish them 🙂
Like it happens in Spanish, the pronoun is the word that replaces the name and the adjective is the word that describes it. We left some examples you so that the difference is clearer:
In Spanish we can say:
This house is white.
This one is white.
And in English we would say:
€œThis house is white€.
€œThis is white€.
The same, no? The form to differentiate a pronoun from an adjective in Spanish is by means of the tilde. In English we skipped that differentiation and we used the same word for both cases. That yes, in a syntactic analysis of the phrase, the word, in this case, €œThis€, it will act as adjective or pronoun. But we do not think that you must face you many English syntactic analyses of orations in your day to day 😉
Other possible uses of the demonstrative pronoun
In a telephone conversation, €œThis€ it is used to identify the person who is calling, whereas €œThat€ is used to identify the person who receives the call (certainly this you did not know it).
Hello. This is Jane. Is that David? €“ Hello, I am Jane, You are David?
Also we can use €œThis€ when we presented people.
This is my to sister Anne. €“ This is my sister Ana.
€œThat€ also we can use it to talk about to something of the past (as much to something of a past very recent since for hours or yesterday, or very distant, as long ago, long time in a galaxy very, very distant€¦).
That pizza was delicious. €“ That one pizza was delicious.
Other demonstrative pronoun that you can use
If you want to extend your vocabulary as far as demonstratives in English, there are other pronouns that you can use:
€œSuch€: so, such.
It is used when it is wanted to make reference to certain thing or person mentioned previously and not to repeat to you in excess.
College Students have many responsibilities, such people have to deal with that stress. €“ The university students have many responsibilities, such people must fight with that stress.
€œNone€: none, none.
It is used to indicate that to be some of the mentioned ones it has certain characteristic. That is to say, none of the €œningunidad€.
None of the animals dog think. €“ No of the animal can think.
€œOver there€: there, to far.
Although in English there is no a single word that expresses the difference between €œThat€ and €œThat one€, if you want to indicate that you are speaking of which it is very far (as Mordor with respect to Rivendel), you can use this expression.
Dog you pass me that to over there? €“ You can pass the one to me that is there?
€œOne, ones€.
There is no a literal translation for this demonstrative. It is used not to repeat concepts. And it is that in the variety it is the pleasure!
That is my to car; the black one. €“ That is my car; the black.
We hope that with this post we have solved all doubts on the demonstrative pronoun in English. If you think that you need to reinforce grammar we suggested you you throw a look to him to the difference between €œMust€ and €œHave to€, €œEverything what you need to know on the modal verb Should€ or €œMake or Do? When to use one of them in English€ The knowledge does not occupy place and if you always clog yourself we will be this way for making use to you! 😉