如何使用指示代词

Demonstrating How to Use Demonstratives

Hello, I’m Miss Fang. Have you everwondered about the differences between the words this, that, these and those?

These words are called demonstratives.Demonstratives tell who or what you are talking about. They are often a sourceof confusion for English learners, because other languages use demonstrativesin different ways than English does.

Demonstratives can act as pronouns or asdeterminers. A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase.

A determiner is a word that comes before anoun and is used to show which thing is being referred to. In the secondsentence of this story, you heard these as a determiner, when I said"These words are called demonstratives."

Pronouns

As pronouns, demonstratives identify orpoint to nouns.

This points to an object that is near toyou in space, thought, or time. The plural form of this is these.

Here are two examples:

"This (in my hand) is my pen."

"These (people standing near me) aremy friends."

That points to an object that iscomparatively far from you in space, thought, or time. The plural form of thatis those.

So, for example, you could say

"That (in your hand) is yourpen."

"Those (people standing far from me)are my friends."

Demonstrative Chart

Demonstratives can serve as a signal for anoun phrase or take the place of a noun phrase. Here are two examples. In thefirst example, these acts as a determiner, while in the second example theseacts as a pronoun.

These old tires and car parts will beprefect toys for the children.

These will be perfect toys for thechildren.

Demonstratives in popular music

Demonstratives are common in speech,writing and even popular songs.

For example, in "My FavoriteThings," a song from the famous film "The Sound of Music," thesinger lists the objects that she loves. In the last line, she refers to theseobjects by singing, "These are a few of my favorite things."

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolenmittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things.

In the song, these refers to raindrops onroses, whiskers on kittens, kettles, mittens and packages.

Common problems:

Determiners give information about whethera noun is general or specific. Demonstrative determiners tell you that the nounor noun phrase is specific.

You use a specific determiner when you knowthat the person who is reading your writing or listening to you knows what youare referring to. In other words, you have a clear antecedent.

In the song "My Favorite Things,"the antecedents are the objects that the singer lists before she says,"These are a few of my favorite things."

In the book Rhetorical Grammar, MarthaKolln writes that if you do not use demonstratives to refer to a clearantecedent, such as a noun phrase, your writing loses clarity.

Take, for example, the following sentence:

My friend just told me she is going to quither job. That decision came as a surprise.

The subject of the second sentence -- that-- refers to the whole idea in the first sentence.

When this or that refers to a broad idea,Kolln writes, you can usually improve your sentence by turning the pronoun intoa determiner. In other words, you can use a complete noun phrase in place ofthe demonstrative pronoun. So, for example, you could improve your sentence bywriting:

My friend just told me she is going to quither job. That decision came as a surprise.

By adding a noun, such as"decision," to the sentence, you can make it easier for your readerto understand what you are referring to.

The next time you are writing or speaking,ask yourself if the demonstrative that you are using has a clear antecedent. Ifyou have to think about it, then your reader or listener will probably have adifficult time understanding what you mean!