English Grammar - This, That, These, Those

Hi, this is Alex.

Thank you for clicking, and welcome to this beginner lesson on "this, that, these, and

those."

Okay, so how we use these words depends on how far we are from an object, okay?

So for example, I drew arrows.

Here's a ball.

We would say "this ball," okay, because "this" is very close.

So if I am close to the ball, I would say "this ball."

If I am far away from the ball, I would say "that ball," okay?

So "this ball," "that ball," okay?

So that's when you have one object.

When it is close, you say "this," when it is far, you say "that."

Now when you have more than one, so here we have squares, three squares, more than one.

If you are close to the squares, let's pretend they are boxes.

So these are boxes.

So we say "these boxes."

If we are far away from the boxes, we say "those boxes," okay?

So we can use "this," "that," "these," and "those" in many, many different ways.

Let me just give you a few more examples to make sure that you understand, okay?

So to give you some more concrete, real examples, we would say "this mug is white," "this mug."

It's close to me.

If I put the mug over here, I would say "that mug is white," okay?

This mug, that mug.

This marker is black.

That marker is black.

If we have two markers, I would say "these markers are black."

If they are far away, we say "those markers are black."

This pencil is a pencil, okay?

This is a pencil.

That is a pencil.

These are pencils.

Those are pencils, okay?

So now that you understand that "this," "that," "these," "those" refer to how close something

is, I'm going to give you a little bit more information on how you can use them in conversation.

Okay, so we can use "this," "that," "these," and "those" as pronouns in certain cases.

So for example, the sentence here is "this is my father."

So if you are introducing your father to someone, um, to your new boyfriend or your girlfriend,

you would say "this," "this is my father," "this taking the place of my father," okay?

So "these," my mom and dad, "these are my parents," acting as a pronoun, "these are

my parents."

If they are close to you, you can also say "that is my father" or "those are my parents,"

okay?

Now, "this," "that," "these," and "those" can also act as adjectives, okay?

So you can say "I didn't like that movie."

So if you're talking with your friend and he's saying "What did you think of Avatar?"

And your friend is crazy, and he says "I didn't like that movie.

I liked Avatar.

It was very good."

Okay, you can also say "these shoes."

Which shoes?

"These shoes are too big," okay?

And again, you can also say "those shoes," "those shoes are too big."

And if you are watching a movie right now, you can say "this movie is very good," okay?

Or if you have the DVD in your hand, you can say "this movie is very good," okay?

So one more time, "this," "this marker," "that marker," if we have two markers, pretend I

have two markers, "these markers," "those markers," okay?

So to test your knowledge on how to use "this," "that," "these," and "those," please check

out www.engvid.com and complete the quiz.

My name is Alex, take care.