Jane Straus - Demonstrative Adjectives

This/That/These/ Those – Demonstrative Adjectives

 Grammar Book

Jane Straus is the author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation and developer of GrammarBook.com

The demonstrative adjectives—this/that/these/those—tell us where an object is located and how many objects there are.

 

This/That

 

This and that are used to point to one object. This points to something nearby while that points to something "over there."

 

Examples: This dog is mine.

                   This is mine.

                   That dog is hers.

                   That is hers.

 

These/ Those

 

These and those refer to more than one object. These points to things nearby while those points to things "over there."

 

Examples: These babies have been smiling for a while.

                   These are mine.

                   Those babies in the nursery have been crying for hours.

                   Those are yours.

 

Pop Quiz

 

  1. This/these tables need to be cleaned before customers arrive.
  2. Please clean this/that table in the corner.
  3. These/those clothes in the other room need to be folded.
  4. That/those toaster burned my bagel.

 

Quiz Answers

 

  1. These tables need to be cleaned before customers arrive.
  2. Please clean that table in the corner.
  3. Those clothes in the other room need to be folded.
  4. That toaster burned my bagel.

 

Word Play

 

Find all the oxymorons in this sentence:

 

The paid volunteers at the animal shelter found it seriously funny when an older puppy shredded the newspaper into approximately forty-six pieces.

 

Answer

 

The paid volunteers at the animal shelter found it seriously funny when the puppy shredded the newspaper into approximately forty-six pieces.

Jane Strauss

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