Examples of demonstrative pronouns in English. Demonstrative pronouns Demonstrative pronouns in English. Substantiated that, that in anaphoric function

Demonstrative pronouns
This
this, this, this
This is my car.
This is my car.
Close.
One item.
These
these
These are my cars.
These are my cars.
Close.
Several items.
That
this, this, this, that
That is my car.
This is my car.
Long away.
One item.
Those
that, those
Those are my car.
Those are my cars.
Long away.
Several items.
Such
such
Such is his will.
This is his will.
certain qualities.
Plural and one. number.
This is my car.
This is my car.
Close
One will take
These are my cars.
These are my cars.
Close
Multiple Items
That is my car.
This is my car.
Long away
One will take
Those are my car.
Those are my cars.
Long away
Multiple Items
Such is his will.
This is his will.
Certain Qualities
Plural and one. number

Demonstrative pronouns(Demonstrative Pronouns) indicate a person, object, phenomena, their signs, time, without naming them. They can independently act in a sentence as a subject (who? what?) or an addition (who? what? what?).

There are no strict rules in Russian for expressing the remoteness of objects, therefore that / those can be translated as " this / these", as well as " that / those».

  • That was tasty.- It was delicious.
  • I won't do that.“I won't do it.
  • That cake was delicious.- This pie was delicious.
  • Those were my sneakers. Those were my sneakers.
  • Those sneakers were mine. Those sneakers were mine.

This and These

Both pronouns this(this) and these(these) indicate a person or thing that is next to the speaker, as well as events that have occurred recently or in the current period of time. This These

  • This will be your new room. This will be your new room.
  • Who put this here? Who put this here?
  • This accident happened just 5 minutes ago. This incident happened only 5 minutes ago.
  • Are these Jack's friends? Are these Jack's friends?
  • I will spend these holidays in Spain. I will spend these holidays in Spain.

This and these also used when introducing people or to introduce yourself on the phone.

  • Mom, these are my friends Jane and Paul. Mom, these are my friends Jane and Paul.
  • Hello! This is Martin Johnson from ABC company.– Hello! This is Martin Johnson from ABC.

That and Those

Both pronouns that(that one) and those(those) indicate a person or thing that is away from the speaker, as well as events that happened a long time ago or those that will happen in the distant future. That only used for the singular. Those- to indicate the plural.

  • That boy is Kelly's son. That boy is Kelly's son.
  • That is my house. It's pretty far from here.- This is my home. It is relatively far from here.
  • Linda and Matt got engaged. Have you heard about that? Linda and Matt got engaged. You've heard about it?
  • Those were my drawings. Those were my drawings.
  • I still have those books you gave me 10 years ago.– I still have those books that you gave me 10 years ago.

It / this / that?

Pronoun it(it) can replace this. In most cases, the speaker can use pronouns it, this, that at will.

  • This is your book.- This is your book.
  • It is your book.- This is your book.
  • This is a good idea!- That's a good idea!
  • That is a good idea!- That's a good idea!
  • It is a good idea!- That's a good idea!

That(that) is always used in emotional, tough and decisive statements or in stable phrases, expressions.

  • Oh my goodness! That's awful!- Oh my God! This is terrible!
  • That was a very bad action, Jack, I'm disappointed.“That was a very bad thing to do, Jack. I am disappointed.
  • That's right.- This is right. Exactly.
  • That's all right.- Everything is fine.
  • That's it.- Exactly.
  • That's all.- It's all. That's all.
  • That's why.- That's why. That's why.
  • And all that.- Etc.

Such

Pronoun such(such) indicates certain qualities of a person, object. It is often followed by an explanation.

  • Such is his point of view.- That's his opinion.
  • Such was this person. It was hard to communicate with him.“That was the kind of person he was. It was difficult to communicate with him.

When after such followed by a singular noun, then the indefinite article is used a / an. The article is not used with plural nouns.

  • Today is such an important day for you! Today is such an important day for you!
  • Such details don't bother anyone.“Such details don't bother anyone.

Demonstrative pronouns in Russian- a group of pronouns that indicate a certain object, attribute or quantity from several possible options and distinguish it from the set. Answer questions Which? What? How?, have grammatical signs of gender, number and case.

Examples of demonstrative pronouns: this, that, such, such, so much, as well as their obsolete synonyms such, such, such, this, this. Some authors also include pronominal adverbs as demonstrative pronouns. here, there, so, here, from here, now, here, then, therefore and etc.

Demonstrative pronouns. They indicate the signs or the number of objects of speech. Pronouns in this category include: so much, this, that, such, such, here, here, here, there, from there, from here, then, therefore, then, obsolete pronouns this one.

Demonstrative pronouns in Russian change according to cases, genders and numbers.

  • I've been going to buy a castle for two years. Happy are those who have nothing to lock up. (F.M. Dostoevsky)
  • Sometimes a person reaches such a point that if he does not step over, he will be unhappy, and if he steps over, he will become even more unhappy. (F.M. Dostoevsky)
  • The truth should be presented as a coat is served, and not thrown in the face like a wet towel. (M. Twain)
  • One who strives for self-improvement will never believe that this self-improvement has a limit. (L.N. Tolstoy)

The syntactic role of demonstrative pronouns

In a sentence, demonstrative pronouns can be the subject, attribute, object, or part of a compound nominal predicate.

Pronoun so many, as a rule, performs the same syntactic function (subject or object) as the noun with which it is used.

Example: We asked so many people as many as they could (addition).

In complex sentences, demonstrative pronouns (as well as attributive pronouns) are used to connect the main and subordinate clauses.

Example: He thought about to finish early.

Having the properties of pronouns and formed from pronouns - first of all, these are pronominal adverbs, and some scientists also distinguish pronominal verbs - but usually they are not combined with "nominal" pronouns.

Personal pronouns refer to the person in question. Pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person designate the participants in the speech ( I, you, we, you). 3rd person pronouns indicate a person or persons not taking part in the speech ( he, she is, it, they).

reflexive pronoun

Transfers the value of the direction of the action to the subject of the action ( I see myself in the mirror).

Declines in cases:

  • myself ( rd. , int. cases), yourself ( dt. , etc.), oneself, oneself ( tv.).

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate the belonging of an object (object, property, etc.) to a particular person.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative sentences. This group (as well as its related groups) relative, negative and uncertain pronouns) includes the most heterogeneous words from a grammatical point of view. The ability to change by numbers and gender, as well as decline by cases, fully corresponds to the properties of the words they replace:

Relative pronouns

Same as interrogative. Used to attach a subordinate clause to the main clause. At the same time, they become allied words and play the role of a union, while being a member of the sentence. For example: Ask him what his grade is. Scheme: SPP (Complex Subordinate Sentence); [=], (what -) (the word “what” will be underlined with a wavy line, as it will be a definition)

Demonstrative pronouns

Definitive pronouns

Negative pronouns

Comment. In negative pronouns neither is always unstressed, and not is under stress.

Indefinite pronouns

  • someone
  • something
  • some
  • some
  • interrogative pronouns with a prefix something or suffixes -then, -or, someday: someone, somewhere, someone, something ...

Comment. Indefinite pronouns contain a stress particle not.

Categories of pronouns in Russian

1. pronouns related to nouns(generalized subject): I, we, you, you, he (she, it), they, one, who, what, nobody, nothing, someone, something, someone, something and others; In academic grammar, some pronouns are sometimes distinguished into a special part of speech - pronominal noun, which includes the pronouns of the different classes indicated above on the basis of syntactic and morphological characteristics common with the noun (for example: all personal, reflexive, part of interrogative - who what, negative - nobody, nothing, indefinitely personal - someone, something and etc.)

2. pronouns related to adjectives(generalized-qualitative): mine, yours, yours, ours, yours, which, which, whose, that, this, the most, everyone, each and others;

3. pronouns related to numbers(generalized-quantitative): as much as.

4. pronouns related to adverbs: Shots came from the right: there battle broke out.

Views of different schools and scholars

The position of the pronoun in parts of speech has historically not been so strong. Its inclusion in the ranks of parts of speech refers to the European grammatical tradition, dating back to antiquity. But in a number of grammatical theories of the 20th century, quite strong objections appeared against this approach. They emphasized the grammatical heterogeneity of pronouns, which qualified as:

  • "pointing words" (K. Brugmann, K. Buhler, U. Weinreich);
  • "indices" or "indicators" (C. S. Pierce, W. Collinson);
  • "words with non-permanent signification" (A. Nuren);
  • "movable determinants" or "shifters" (O. Jespersen, R. O. Jacobson);
  • "actualizers" or "means of transition from language to speech" (Sh. Bally, E. Benveniste);
  • words with "subjective-objective" lexical meaning (A. M. Peshkovsky);
  • "word substitutes" or "substitutes" (L. V. Shcherba, L. Bloomfield, Z. Z. Harris);
  • "representatives" (F. Bruno);
  • "survivals of a special part of speech" (V. V. Vinogradov); etc.

In M. V. Lomonosov and F. I. Buslaev, they are considered as service parts of speech; at A. A. Potebnya - separately; A. M. Peshkovsky, A. A. Shakhmatov and M. V. Panov do not distinguish them as independent

Pronoun- a part of speech that indicates a person, object or sign, but does not name them. Pronouns are divided into:

    Personal: I, we, you, you, he, she, it, they.

    returnable: myself.

    Possessive: mine, ours, yours, yours.

    Interrogative-relative: who, what, which, which, which, whose, how much.

    pointing: this, that, such, such, so much.

    Determinants: himself, most, all (all, all, all), everyone, everyone, any, other.

    Negative: no one, nothing, none, no one, no one, no one, nothing.

    indefinite: someone, something, some, some, a few and etc.

1. Personal pronouns- pronouns indicating persons who are involved in speech: these are noun pronouns. A constant morphological feature for all personal pronouns is the person (I, we are the first person; you, you are the 2nd person; he (she, it, they) are the 3rd person). A constant morphological feature of personal pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person is the number (I, you - singular; we, you - plural). All personal pronouns change in cases, while not only the ending changes, but the whole word (I - me, you - you, he - his); the pronoun of the 3rd person changes by number and gender (in the singular) - he, she, it, they.

2. Reflexive pronoun- a pronoun that means that the action performed by someone is directed at the actor himself. This pronoun is a noun. A reflexive pronoun has no gender, person, number, or nominative form; the reflexive pronoun changes in cases (himself, himself, himself).

3. Possessive pronouns- indicate the attribute of an object by its belonging: these are pronouns-adjectives.

Possessive pronouns change by number, gender (in the singular), cases (mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, etc.). When indicating belonging to a third person, frozen forms of the genitive case of personal pronouns are used - his, her, them.

4. Interrogative pronounsare used in interrogative sentences. Who? what? - noun pronouns. They have no gender, person, number; change in cases (who, whom, what, what, etc.). Which? whose? which the? - pronouns-adjectives, change by number, gender (in the singular), cases (what, what, what, what, what, etc.). How? - pronoun-numeral; changes in cases (how many, how many, how many, etc.). Where? when? where? where? why? and others - pronominal adverbs; immutable words.

5. Relative pronounscoincide with interrogative ones - who, what, what, whose, which, where, when, how much, where, from where, why and others, but are used not as interrogative words, but as allied words in subordinate clauses (I know how much effort he put into this task; I know who is to blame for our failure; I know where the money is hidden. ). Morphological and syntactic characteristics of relative pronouns are the same as for interrogative pronouns.

6. Demonstrative pronouns- these are means of pointing to certain objects, signs, quantity (with a distinction between one and the other). That, this, this, such are adjective pronouns and change according to numbers, genders (in the singular), cases (that, that, that, those; such, such, such, such, etc.). So much - pronoun-numeral; varies by case (so many, so many, so many, etc.). There, here, here, there, here, from there, from here, then, therefore, then others - pronominal adverbs; immutable words.

7. Defining pronouns- serve as a means of clarifying the subject, the sign in question. Himself, most, all, everyone, everyone, different, other, any - adjective pronouns and change in numbers, genders (in the singular), cases (any, everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone, etc.). Everywhere, everywhere, always - pronominal adverbs; immutable words.

8. Negative pronouns- indicate the absence of objects, signs, quantities. Negative pronouns are formed from interrogative pronouns with the help of prefixes not-, none-: who → nobody, how many → not at all, where → nowhere, when → never. The morphological and syntactic characteristics of negative pronouns are the same as those of interrogative pronouns, from which negative pronouns are formed.

9. Indefinite pronouns- indicate indefinite, unknown objects, signs, quantity. Indefinite pronouns are formed from interrogative pronouns with the help of prefixes not-, something- and postfixes -something, -or, -someone: who → someone, someone, someone, someone, someone, someone; how much → several, how many, how many; where → somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere. The morphological and syntactic characteristics of indefinite pronouns are the same as for interrogative pronouns, from which indefinite pronouns are formed.

If you liked it, share it with your friends:

Join us atFacebook!

See also:

We offer online tests:

The main function of demonstrative pronouns is to indicate an object, person or their characteristics. Demonstrative pronouns in English are presented in the singular and plural. There are few of them, but each has a specific meaning. The table below clearly shows the demonstrative pronouns in the plural and singular.

Single

Plural

Such => similarSuch => like, such
That => that, that, thatthose => those
This => this, this, thisThese => these
It => thisIt => this
The same => sameThe same => same

This/these: the most commonly used demonstrative pronouns in English

When we are talking about something in the singular, we need to use this, when we are talking about several objects or persons, then we should use these. Let's give examples with explanations of when it is better to use these pronouns:

  1. If we are talking about things or people located next to us. Often in such sentences there is an identifier word ‘’here’’ (in English here) =>

This flower is very beautiful => This flower is beautiful. (The flower is next to the person who points to it)

These papers are not mine => These papers are not mine. (Several papers are nearby and the person is talking about them)

Your clients are here and they are eager to see you => Your clients are here and they really want to see you.

  1. If we are talking about a situation that takes place either in the present or will occur in the future =>

They are going to visit their friends this week => They are going to visit their friends this week.

This month you are surprising me more and more => This month you surprise me more and more.

  1. When a speaker speaks about the same thing several times and wants to avoid repetition =>

We don't want to concentrate on this but we have no choice => We don't want to focus on this, but we have no choice. (This implies the factor that the event has already been said before, so repetition is avoided)

Look at this! She tries to get back her property! => Look at this! She's trying to get her property back! (The pronoun indicates the situational situation that is described in the second sentence)

This is everthing I want to have => This is everything I want.

  1. When it comes to getting to know people on the phone =>

Hello! This is me speaking! => Hello! This is me saying!

Molly, these are my close friends, Valery and Bob => Molly, these are my close friends, Valery and Bob.

Demonstrative pronouns that/those: usage rules with examples

The demonstrative pronoun that should be used when talking about singular nouns, those when nouns are plural:

  1. Such demonstrative pronouns take place when we talk about something (people, things) located far from us. The identifier word can be the definition there (there) =>

I don't want tu buy this dress. Show me please that one => I don't want to buy this dress. Show me that one, please. (A dress that a customer likes is further away from her than one that she doesn't like)

Those birds are too far. I can't see the color of their plumage => Those birds are too far away. I can't see the color of their plumage. (The birds in question are at a distance from the person who is talking about them)

Look at that! There is a shark in the water! => Look at this! There's a shark in the water!

That is my best friend => That is my best friend.

  1. When it comes to a situation that took place in the past =>

We had to work a lot that day => We had to work a lot that day.

In those times there were no technologies => There were no technologies in those days.

  1. If the author refers to information said before and wants to avoid repetition. In most cases, the story is about the past tense =>

He went to Spain last week. That was cool! => Last week he went to Spain. It was cool!

We selebrated her birthday last month. That was even better I wished! => Last month we celebrated her birthday. It was even better than I would have liked!

  1. If we are talking on the phone (starting a conversation) and ask the interlocutor to introduce himself, and he is far from us =>

good evening! This is Holly Poppy. Who is that? => Good evening! This is Holly Poppy. Who am I talking to?

Demonstrative pronouns it, the same, such

When learning English, the demonstrative pronouns it, such, the same will help you communicate and express your thoughts more easily. These demonstrative pronouns are often used in speech. Consider the features of their use with examples. But before that, let's point out the cases when such demonstrative pronouns are used:

  1. If the noun is in single, then together with such you need to use the indefinite article a =>

You will not like such a silly question => You won't like such a silly question.

You will have to do such a task if you want to work here => You will have to do such a task if you want to work here.

But! If the noun is in the plural, then the article does not need to be used.

You don't need to do such things => You don't need to do such things.

  1. If we are talking about the pronoun the same, then we must remember that it is always used with the article. But, as for the subject noun, it can be both in single and in plural =>

Show me the sentence with the same words => Show me the sentence with the same words.

She bought the same dresses as Jenny did => She bought the same dresses as Jenny did.

  1. As for the pronoun it, it is equivalent to the word ‘’it’’ =>

Is it you? => Is that you?

What is it? => What is it?

It is my new hat => This is my new hat.

Don't forget about it => Don't forget about it!

Summing up

Demonstrative pronouns are very easy to learn if the learning methodology is developed correctly. Constantly repeating the rules (with examples!) And doing exercises (exercises), you will ensure yourself a brilliant result. This is a very easy topic and does not require preparation to learn. And one more thing: when repeating the rules, try to use your examples with as many words as possible. This will help enrich your vocabulary.

Good luck and new knowledge in the world of English!

Views: 183

Have questions?

Report a typo

Text to be sent to our editors: