English is one of the oldest languages on the planet. It consists of approximately 1 million 500 thousand words. Of course, most of them are practically not used. If we consider the vocabulary of the average Englishman, then in a passive form (a person knows these words, but practically does not use them) he will have about 15-20 thousand words, and in the active form (those words that are used constantly) - only in area 2 thousand words. But even among these 2 thousand, which are used most often, there are leaders. The pronouns this, that, these, those are undeniably among the most used words. At the same time, many native Russian speakers who begin to learn English are very often confused in these four, as it seems at first glance, very simple pronouns. What exercises with this, that, these, those need to be done to rid yourself of this confusion once and for all? You will find the answer to this question in the article below.
This, that, these, those translation
This is this (this, this).
That - that (that, that).
These are these.
Those are those.
This, that, these, those in English
The essence of these four pronouns is to indicate or name nouns without disclosing the content of the latter. This, that, these, those are used to indicate additional information about the noun, in the vast majority of cases concerning only two parameters: the distance from the speaker and the number of nouns considered. For ease of understanding, there is a photo above that expresses the relationship of this, that, these, those with the number of nouns and their remoteness. When classifying by distance, all nouns are divided into those that are next to the speaker and those that are not nearby (in the distance). This, these are used for those nouns that are nearby, and that, those - for those that are distant. When classified by quantity, nouns can be either singular or plural. If the noun is singular, only this, that. Can be used with it. If the noun is in the plural, then only these, those are applicable to it.
In order to permanently stop confusing these four pronouns, you need to do special exercises with this, that, these, those.
Some difficulties with that
So far, everything has been extremely simple, and yet there is still some complexity that can mislead a person starting to learn English. The problem is that, unlike these, this, those that have only one meaning, that is used not only as a pronoun, but also in a number of other cases.
Most often, that is used:
- In the role of the union for joining various types of subordinate clauses In these cases, that can be translated as “what”, “to”.
- To replace a word used a second time. The climate here is like that of France. - / literally / The climate here is like the climate in France. The English example shows that where the word “climate” should be the second time, it is seen on that.
- In the meaning of "to such an extent." The hair was about that long. - / literally / The hair was about to such an extent long.
- In some phraseological units: So that - in order to. That's it - that's all.
The importance of correct pronunciation from the very beginning
It is incredibly important to understand this trivial topic from the very beginning. For if a person who has just begun to study English does not pay attention to this issue, then, quite possibly, in the future, when his knowledge will become much more extensive, he will still confuse this with these, and that with those. A huge number of people studying English do not use these and those at all, using this and that with plural nouns. Which, of course, is an incredibly blunder. Many at least once in their life talked with people who do not know Russian well. These people can say “she” to a man, “he” to a car. It sounds very stupid and even wretched. Imagine the emotions that the native speaker of the Russian language will cause the phrases “My car is very reliable”, “Let your husband not look at my wife”. Exactly the same emotions in a native English speaker will cause the combination of “this cars”, “that girls”. Those who say so will, at best, be taken lightly. And there would be at least some difficulty in accustoming yourself from the very beginning to use pronouns correctly, then somehow you could understand those who use that with multiple nouns. But there is no difficulty! There is only laziness, which out of trifle confusion over time makes a real problem.
Exercises
The best exercise with this, that, these, those is constant self-control. Every time you accidentally used this or that with plural nouns, remember “My car is very good” and realize that you say the same thing. The best exercise is to neglect this stupid mistake. Also a good way to practice is the following. Every time you have a free minute, examine the objects around you and name them with the pronouns this, that, these, those. Even a week of similar exercises with this, that, these, those performed daily, will be enough to permanently get used to the correct use of these four pronouns.