This and that are to be used with singular nouns only. These and those are to be used with plural nouns only. These four words are known as demonstrative adjectives.

As we discussed above, they are adjectives because they describe nouns and answer the following question: Which? They are demonstrative ( coming from the Latin verb demonstrare, meaning to point out or to indicate ) because they indicate or point out a noun. You need to remember one more thing about demonstrative adjectives: this and these indicate or point out nouns close to the speaker, while that and those indicate or point out nouns further away from the speaker.

For example:

1. This book is better than that book.

2. These books are longer than those books.

All four of the demonstrative adjectives highlighted above answer the questions:

In example #1, this and that are describing the noun "book," which is singular. In the second example, these and those are describing the noun "books," which is plural.

Test Your Skill

Many students often confuse these three words. It is, however, easy to distinguish between them, since all three belong to different parts of speech. Study the differences between these three words in the explanations following with the examples offered. Then, practice with the multiple-choice examples provided:

For example: During a war, death is very common.

An adjective describes a noun or a pronoun. Adjectives always answer one or more of the following questions: Which? What kind of? How many? DEAD is an adjective because it describes a noun or a pronoun.

For example: President Franklin D. Roosevelt is dead.

In this example, dead describes Franklin D. Roosevelt. It also answers the question: "What kind of a president? “ A dead president.

The dead president’s name is Richard M. Nixon. In this example, the adjective dead describes the noun president: What kind of a president?

She is now dead after a long and fruitful life. In this example, dead describes the pronoun she.

A VERB is a word of action. The word to die is a word of action; therefore, it is a verb. Here are a few examples of the verb to die in the different tenses indicated, all of which you should recognize:

Every day, a bird dies. (simple present tense)

He died last Thursday. (simple past tense)

If Joan doesn’t receive immediate treatment, she will die. (future tense)

If Joan hadn’t received immediate treatment, she would have die. (conditional tense [mood] )

It is difficult to believe that a person is dying right now.(present progressive tense).

When I arrived at the hospital, my grandfather was dying.(past progressive tense).

Those who have died in war have died for a just cause. (present perfect tense)

Test Your Skill

INTERESTED VS. INTERESTING AND BORED VS. BORING PRESENT AND PAST PARTICIPLES USED AS ADJECTIVES

INTERESTED refers to how a person feels. INTERESTING describes the cause of the feeling in someone or something else. The same explanation appliesfor BORED and BORING.

Let us take the following sentence and change it to correct and incorrect forms so you can see the right and the wrong ways of rewording it:

Indian art interests me.

A. CORRECT: I am interested in Indian art.

Aa. INCORRECT: I am interesting in Indian art.

B. CORRECT: Indian art is interesting.

Bb. INCORRECT: Indian art is interested.

Test Your Skill