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 an 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 an active form (those words that are used constantly) - only around 2 thousand words. But even among these 2 thousand, which are used most often, there are leaders. The pronouns this, that, these, those are undoubtedly among the most used words. At the same time, many native Russian speakers who are starting to learn English very often get confused in these four, as it seems at first glance, very simple pronouns. What exercises with this, that, these, those should be done in order to rid yourself of this confusion once and for all? You will find the answer to this question below in the article.
This, that, these, those translation
This - this (this, this).
That– that (that, that).
These are these.
Those - 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 a noun, in the overwhelming majority of cases concerning only two parameters: distance from the speaker and the number of nouns in question. 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 distance. When classifying by distance, all nouns are divided into those that are near the speaker and those that are not nearby (in the distance). This, these are used for those nouns that are nearby, and that, those are used for those that are far away. When classified by number, nouns can be either singular or plural. If the noun is singular, only this, that can be used with it. If the noun is plural, then only these, those.
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,beginner to learn English. The problem is that unlike these, this, those, which have only one meaning, that is used not only as a pronoun, but also in a number of other cases.
Most commonly used:
- As a union for joining various kinds 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. In the English example, it can be seen that where the word "climate" should be the second time, it is seen on that.
- Meaning "to such an extent". The hair was about that long. - /literally/ The hair was about that long.
- In some idioms: So that - in order to. That's it - that's all.
On the importance of correct pronunciation from the very beginning
It's incredibly important to get this trifling subject right from the start. 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 large number of English learners don't use these and those at all, instead using plural nouns this and that. Which, of course, is an incredibly gross mistake. Many at least once in their lives communicated with people who do not know Russian well. These people are ona man can say “she”, a car - “he”. It sounds very stupid and even pathetic. Imagine the emotions that the phrases “My car is very reliable”, “Let your husband not look at my wife” cause a native Russian speaker. The combinations “this cars”, “that girls” will cause exactly the same emotions in an English speaker. Those who say so will, at best, be taken lightly. And there would be at least some difficulty in accustoming yourself to use pronouns correctly from the very beginning, then somehow you could understand those who use that with plural nouns. But there is no difficulty! There is only laziness, which turns from a trifling confusion into a real problem over time.
Exercise
The best exercise with this, that, these, those is constant self-control. Every time you accidentally use this or that with plural nouns, remember "My car is very good" and realize that you are saying the same thing. The best exercise is to ignore this stupid mistake. The following is also a good way to practice. Whenever you have a free moment, look at 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 get used to the correct use of these four pronouns forever.
