Did you know that here and there are sometimes confusing to English learners? These words are selected based on distance from the person speaking. Did you ever get confused by here and there?
This, that, these and those are also confusing words which are based on distance and number, so I will quickly explain the differences between them.
If something is close it is here. If we can touch a book, we would say it is here.
If it is not so close it is there. If a book is across the room we would say it is there.
Do you remember that singular means one and plural means more than one?
We need to think about singular and plural when we use this, that, these and those.
We will say this or these for things that are close. I should say this key if I am holding one key.
I should say these keys if I am holding two or more keys.
We will say that or those for things that are not so close.
If I point to one key I should say that key. If I point to more than one key I should say those keys.
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Here, this and these are close. There, that and those are not close. Does that make sense to you? | ||||||||||||||
Comments
Thanks for that nice comment Sono. This business of false advertising is still a problem in modern times.
This is another useful blog like a last one. I Wanna add a phrase to my side "I do not trust products that claim all natural ingredients because this phrase can mean almost anything. Thanks to shared.
# AReality regarding other uses of these words. I had half jokingly suggested that you might want to continue the discussion on your blog, but that may not have been helpful to suggest (especially because lower level learners may get confused at that answer). So I am addressing this general issue below.
Many English words are commonly used as various parts of speech. I know that you are aware of this because your an advanced English language learner. I was looking at the dictionary yesterday and checked a very common word that falls into this group. The word is "in". Please follow this link to the dictionary... http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in ... and have a look at a few of the ways "in" can be used.
Beginning and intermediate learners should not be worried that so many uses are possible. At your stage of learning, you should concentrate on the most common uses of words. Happy English learning everyone.
WMW and AReality, you are both correct that there is more to this than meets the eye. Most of my blogs are for higher level people like you, but this one is more simple for the beginners and early intermediates. There may be more information than can be covered here in a blog. I didn't go there because it might be too much information for that target audience. I'm so happy that you are both interested in this topic and hope you will take these words to the next step in your own blogs.
It is easy and effective for learners. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Mr. Bob.
My dear Teacher (Can I call you like that?). I'm still poor in English and I'm learning it everyday. Thanks for the help. It helps me so much. (but I'm not sure that I can remember all hahaha)
That was a good comment you made Ehab Nassif. You also understand the more subtle uses of this and that. Thank you both for your kind comments.
this is a good blog
thank you