Demonstrative Adjectives: Choose With Confidence

When you choose between this, that, these, and those, look at the noun first. If the noun names a single item or an uncountable thing, your choices narrow to this and that. If the noun is plural, your choices narrow to these and those. Deciding the number first eliminates two options immediately, so you avoid guessing among four words at once.

Use this when you speak about one object, person, or place that is physically close to you or currently in your hands. This signals immediate physical contact or immediate focus. In a workplace or store, you use this when touching an item, holding paperwork, or pointing to something on your own desk.

Puedes practicar esto de nuevo en Adjectives of Quantity: How to Choose y Prepositions after Adjectives: Choose the Right Pair.

Use that when you refer to one person, object, or location situated away from you in space. The listener understands that the item sits across the room, down the street, or on a shelf beyond your reach. The distance creates a visual gap between you and the object you identify.

Use these when you refer to two or more items that sit near you, rest in your hands, or belong to your immediate workspace. The word pairs the plural number with proximity. When handing files to a colleague or sorting items on your table, these makes the physical proximity clear.

Use those when you refer to multiple objects or people located away from your immediate area. The items might sit on high shelves, on the other side of a hall, or across an open yard. The plural ending combines with distance to direct your listener's attention across the room.

A demonstrative adjective takes the place of articles like a, an, or the. It specifies the noun completely on its own. Placing the or a directly before or after this, that, these, or those creates an ungrammatical combination that confuses English listeners. Say this report, never the this report.

This and these can present something as close or current; that and those can present it as more distant. This also works for a recently finished part of the current day. In conversation, the choice can show how the speaker relates to an idea, so it is not simply a present-versus-past rule.

A demonstrative adjective comes before a noun phrase, as in this computer or those chairs. Other describing words can come between it and the noun. When this, that, these, or those stands alone as the subject or object instead of naming the noun, it acts as a demonstrative pronoun.