We use ‘it’, ‘this’ and ‘that’ to introduce further information about a topic already mentioned. However, the words have different uses. In my last blog I talked about how for French learners of English, it’s not easy to know when to translate ‘ça’ into ‘it’, ‘that’, or ‘this’. You’ll remember that in my story about the lady at the cash machine who said ‘‘ça marche, mais on ne voit rien’’ , that I said that in this case the English translation for ‘ça’ would have been ’it’, because we were referring to an object (the cash machine) already clearly the subject of the conversation. If we had said ‘this’ or ‘that’, then we would have been introducing a conceptually ‘new’ object. So, when do we know which of ‘it’, ‘this’ or ‘that’ we should use? Read on…
‘It’ is a subject pronoun and, as I indicated above, we use ‘it’ to continue to refer to the subject we are already writing or speaking about, or with which we are already occupying ourselves;
- ‘’New York City is the most populous city in the Unites States. It has an estimated population of almost 20 million’’.
- ‘’The new book by Dan Brown went on sale yesterday. It will probably be very successful’’
- ‘’It’s funny’’ ‘’What’s funny?’’ ‘’Oh, just the thing I’m thinking about…’’
We also use ‘it’ in a general sense when the subject is obvious;
- ‘’It’s cold’’ (the weather)
- ‘’It’s cloudy’’ (the sky)
- ‘’It smells’’ (the room we have just entered)
We use the demonstrative pronouns, ‘this/that/these/those’ to show what we are talking about. We use them with nouns, and on their own. Deciding when to use ‘this’ or ‘that’ can be confusing for English learners but in essence, ‘this’ (singular) and ‘these’ (plural) are used to talk about things which are physically close to us, and ‘that’ (singular) and ‘those’ (plural) to talk about things which are further away from us.
Here are some examples of the most common uses of ‘this’ and ‘that’;
- ‘‘I want to buy this coat for David’’, says David’s mother, holding the coat and showing it to David’s father.
- ‘’Really? But I prefer that one over there’’, says David’s father, pointing to another coat at the other side of the shop.‘’Wow! That swimming pool looks fabulous’’ says Roger, walking towards the swimming pool. (He’s not in the pool, it’s still some distance away from him).
- ‘’This swimming pool is fabulous’’ says Roger, as he dives into the water. (He’s now in the pool).
We use ‘this’ and ‘that’ also to show distance in time as well as physical distance.
- ‘’This is a good song’’ (we’re listening to it now)
- ‘’That was a good film’’ (we saw it at some time in the past – maybe last year, but maybe we’re talking about it while leaving the cinema after watching it)
- ‘’It was the first time I visited that town’’ (the town I visited in the past).
So, we usually say ‘that’ to refer to something we talked about something in the past even if it is to talk about something we have only just spoken about. For example;
- ‘’…..and in the end they didn’t reimburse me, and that’s why I’ll never use that company again’’.
‘This/these’ and ‘that/those’ are not always used with nouns, they can also be used as pronouns, without nouns, when the thing referred to is obvious.
- ‘’What do you think about thesefor Peter?’’ says David’s mother, holding a pair of shorts and showing them to David’s father (it’s clear what she’s talking about so she doesn’t have to say ‘these shorts’.
- ‘’I’ve never seen Peter wearing shorts like those’’, says David’s father, looking over from the other side of the shop (again, it’s clear what he’s talking about so she doesn’t have to say ‘those shorts’.
So, if you’re in public and don’t know the word for something, you can just point and say, ‘’What is this?’’ ‘’Can I see that, please?’’ or ‘’I’d like those, please’’.
‘This’ and ‘that’ can refer also to more general things, not just specific things. They can refer to what somebody has said or what has happened, which could be several things or ideas. Here are some more examples;
- ‘’That’s right!’’. (meaning the thing that the other person said – they said it in the past, even if it was only a couple of seconds ago)
- ”This is hard work! (the work I’m doing now)
- ”That was great! (the film we have just watched)
When you’re introducing one person to another person, you say, ‘Angela, this is Peter’.
We need to be careful to use ‘this’ and ‘that’ correctly when we are on the telephone. When you introduce yourself, you say, ‘’Hi, this is Dan’’
And to check who is speaking, you can say, ‘’Is that Mary?’’
However, if you’re phoning someone you know very well, instead of ‘‘this is me’’ you’d say ‘’It’s me.’’
When you’re introducing people in person, you say, ‘Juliette, this is Marc’.
So, if you have enjoyed reading this blog, please ‘like’ it and share it with your friends and colleagues, and if you know anyone who might be interested in my online one-to-one lessons, please do ask them to contact me to discuss how I can help them to excel in English.
Thank you,
Martin
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