Learn English: The difference between THIS and THAT

You can go for this, or you can go for that.

You can go for this, you can...

Hi.

James from engVid.

Yeah, sorry, I was just singing a song by Fat Boy Slim; came out 2006.

It's about demonstratives.

I mean, you could go for this, or you could go for that.

And you're going to say: "Why did I change it?"

We're going to do demonstratives, and you're going to understand why I was singing and

doing that little dance, and you're going to find out why I moved the book to me and

away from me when I changed.

You ready?

Let's go to the board.

All right, so E is talking about "this" or "that".

No difference here, but there is a difference over here.

When we say "this" in English, we mean something is near or close.

For instance: "Are you talking about this book?"

Or maybe you're talking about that book.

You go: "That book, yeah, that book.

It was over there."

So "this" is here.

When we talk about "this", we're talking about here.

When we talk about "that", we're talking about there.

Okay?

See?

Near is close to you, and that is not close or far.

Another way to remember it if you get a little confused, see the "a" in "that", it means

away, away from you.

Cool?

All right, I thought you'd like that.

It's considered relative distance.

"Relative" meaning there's no real distance.

I can say: "I like this marker", but it's not near to me, but it's closer than the marker

that's over there.

Okay?

All right.

Good.

Now, there are two types of demonstratives.

We can talk about pronouns and adjectives, but before we get there, let's look at what

a pronoun is.

A pronoun is something that can stand by itself; it represents something.

You know these already: "he", "she', "it", "we", "they", "us", they're pronouns.

Right?

Some are subjects, some are object.

Right?

They represent nouns.

For instance, if I said: "Mr. E is happy", I can then afterwards say: "He is going...

He is happy because he is going to a party."

"He" represents E. All right?

So it's a pronoun, but it can also stand by itself as in: "He is sitting in the room by

himself."

Right?

We know "he" is a male of some type sitting in a room.

When we talk about an adjective, we use adjectives to describe nouns, so they help us with nouns.

What kind of man?

The tall man is sitting in the room by himself.

Still talking about a man, but now we have more information, and that's what adjectives

do.

They describe nouns.

So as we move down here and we look at demonstrative...

Demonstratives, we can have them either as pronouns and adjectives.

What do we mean?

When a demonstrative is a pronoun, it comes...

Oops.

It comes before a verb.

Right?

Or it could be a verb by itself.

Okay?

So we could say: "This is my car."

Notice: "this" is the pronoun, "is my car", like: "it is my car".

Same, except we're using "this".

Right?

Now, where do you think that car is when you say: "This is my car"?

Do you think it's way over there or maybe it's here?

Probably here.

I'm probably opening the door-ch, ch-"This is my car.

That is his car over there."

All right?

And you can say...

See how it stands by itself?

"Do you like that?"

Or: "Did you like that?"

Something happened.

Right?

Maybe somebody, you know, said: "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you", and I say:

"Hey, did you like that, the fact that they were singing?"

Did you like that?

It can stand on its own.

All right?

Here, as we said, is the verb, and our pronoun; and here it stands by itself.

Now, what happens when we want to actually use it to help...?

Help us describe something?

All right?

We're going to go over here to the demonstrative adjective.

All right?

Now this is really easy.

You just put "this" before a noun.

"This cup", "This book", "This marker".

You just learned demonstrative adjectives.

What are you talking about?

This marker or this marker?

That's it.

Put it in front.

And here we go, right?

"This car is mine."

So you can imagine there's a car, and I'm saying: "This car" to describe which kind

of car?

This car.

And: "Did you like that book?

Did you like that book?"

Would the book be close or far, what do you think?

I think it would probably be away from me.

Right?

Remember?

We're always talking about relative distance.

So even though you hear: "this" and "that", you have to keep in mind it's about distance

- how close something is to you or how far.

So we've got near/far, or close/not close.

And the easy way to remember "that", if you remember, I said "a" means away.

That car, it's probably something over there.

So you got there and away.

Cool?

I'm glad you like it, because we're about to come back with a little more.

Ready?

[Snaps]

Okay.

We talked about demonstratives, and we talked about "this" and "that", but demonstratives

can also be in the plural form, meaning more than one.

Right?

I can say: "I want this marker", or I can say: "I want these markers."

I know "this" and "these" seem similar, but one: "these", the "z" sound is plural and

the "ss" like a soft snake, sipping from a sippy cup, "s" is a soft "s" in the single,

so this.

So let's look at the chart here, what we have.

So when something is close to us, we have "this", which is the single.

Right?

And it means here.

And we have "these" with a "z" sound which also means here, but plural.

This pen or these pens.

Okay?

Now, when we talk about the demonstratives that are not close, we say...

Not close, there, we have "that" which you know, and "that" I told you "a" means away

from to help you remember, but we also have "those".

Right.

Long "o" sound and the same "z" sound.

So the "z" sound is in both plurals, so it makes it easy for you.

Right?

"These" and "those".

All right?

Good.

So let's look at demonstrative adjectives when we're using them as plurals.

"These shoes are nice."

Well, not these shoes.

Clearly, I'm wearing some, but these shoes don't smell nice, but they are nice.

They're comfortable.

Okay?

These shoes, they're on my feet, so I'll point at them.

Right?

Now, if I say as a pronoun: "These are nice shoes."

This is the pronoun.

Remember we talked about it?

"These are", there's a verb.

Right?

Helping us indicate that these are the pronoun, demonstrative pronouns.

Now we want to talk about "those", remember?

Distance.

"Those cars are old."

Far away.

"Those cars", with that "z" sound.

We can also talk about, as a demonstrative pronoun: "Those are our..."

"Those are old cars."

And you thought English was hard.

It's hard for me, too.

Okay?

Okay, so we've got our demonstrative adjectives, "these shoes", "these cars", remember?

"These" is modifying "shoes" in this case, and "those" are modifying "cars", and then

we have them as pronouns.

Right?

"These are"-all right?

Standing by itself-"nice shoes".

And: "These are old cars."

Standing by itself.

We cool?

Good.

Let's move on.

So we've done the single and the plural.

Something funny about demonstratives, and I understand why people might be confused.

We talk about distance.

And I was very clear at the beginning to talk about relative distance, because there's relative

distance between things: "this" and "that", but there's also a relative distance between

time.

And you're probably saying: "What the hell is he talking about?"

Well, when something is finished, we think about it being far away.

Right?

When you were a child, we say: "When you were a child", if you're an adult, you don't think

being a child is right behind you.

You think some long, long time ago.

Yeah?

Or far distance from you.

You've changed.

Now, when you think about what's happening today or this very day, you think now is close.

I mean you can't point to me and say where this is in time, and you can't point to me

and tell me where that is in the past and it's completed, but you have an idea that

there's a distance involved.

Right?

Well, we're using the same demonstratives in English when we talk about time, so let's

take a look at the board.

Now it's that time to learn something new, and what do I mean?

Well, we're going to talk about time and "now", and notice how I used the demonstrative "that".

Okay?

The same kind of set work...

You see how I set this up here?

It's almost the exact same thing.

"This" is single and it's close, and "these" with a "z" sound is plural.

Right?

And then there's a difference.

Notice how it was "not close" and I changed it to "finished".

When we say "that" and "those", we're talking about things that are completed in our mind.

Done.

Right?

I'll give you an example.

Well, give you two.

When I talk about something being close, I might say: "At this time I want to introduce

Mr. E."-[claps]-"Give it up, Mr. E." He's not coming.

He's not on the board.

But I mean the near, now, everyone's going to look around the room and go: "Where is

E?

Where is E?"

They're looking for him now.

We're not talking about five days from now or four days ago.

We're talking about now.

Where is he at this time?

But then when we talk about: "In those days a worm knew his place.

He wasn't supposed to be on the board.

Look, making little pictures of himself.

No, worms didn't do that."

When we're talking about a time that's completed, maybe 20-30 years ago, worms weren't allowed

to be on the board teaching with humans.

But in these days, this time, at this time things have changed.

So when we say: "In those days", we talk about something that's completed or gone.

Okay?

So a worm knew his place 20 years ago, 30 years ago.

But at this time, I want to...

At this time I want to go to the quiz.

See how I changed that?

I kind of used the lesson to teach.

Yeah?

Yeah.

I liked it.

Anyway, we're going to do a quick quiz.

As always, I want you to do the quiz just as a kind of an appetizer, something to make

you a little bit more hungry for the real quiz that we have on engVid, which I know

you're going to go to.

Now, let's look here: "Can you meet me at __________ same time tomorrow?"

Here's a hint...

Hint.

It's close to now, close.

So we have to look at the board.

You're going to look over here and over there.

I'm trying to trick you now.

I'm going to trick you and you won't figure it out.

"At this time tomorrow."

Right?

In my mind, it's...

The time is close.

We're not talking a year or two.

I'm talking 24 hours is close to now.

At this exact same time tomorrow.

Close to now.

How about the next one?

"Can I see __________ coat over there?"

[Whistles] Now, I didn't say "coats", I said "coat", so that's probably going to be: "Can

I see that coat?"

"Over there" was the hint, it's away from me.

Right?

And remember I told you "a" means away.

Cool?

How about the last one?

"What are __________ shoes doing in here?"

Well, if it's a closet, they should be there, but: "What are __________ shoes doing here?"

Hmm.

Here's something we didn't really discuss, but I'm going to talk about before I end.

But I want you to pay attention to.

We did talk about plurals, so here's a...

"Shoes", so it's more than one.

And "in here", "here" is the opposite of "there", so I'm thinking it's going to be something

like this.

Oops, wrong color.

Black is a good colour, though, just used the wrong one.

"What are these shoes doing in here?"

Yes, ah-ha!

You are a genius.

You are a master or a mistress of your life and...

Or domain and whatever you want to be.

I just want to leave a little note before we take off.

See this?

When we talk about demonstratives, we have to be careful to make sure we match the tense-okay?-and

we're talking about plurals.

Okay?

I want to make sure we match our demonstratives with the verb tense, and we also have to match

them with the noun.

In these case, "these" goes with "shoes".

Okay?

And "are", not "is".

So be careful, all right?

You don't want to put: "What are this shoes?"

Because "are" means plural, so "this" should represent plural.

Up here, right?

"These".

And also "shoes" is plural.

Just a little something because I didn't mention it at the beginning.

It's got to match.

It's got to be balanced.

Everything works out in life balanced.

Right?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the lesson.

Or I hope you enjoyed that lesson, because it's completed now.

Right?

We're finished.

I want you to go to engVid, do the quiz.

Right?

Where will you find engVid?

At www.

eng as in English, vid as in video .com (www.engvid.com) where we have...

Well, the answers to this video and many others.

Once again, I want to thank you for watching and keep being part of our audience.

Thanks.

Chow.