Demonstrative adjectives are words that help us to describe or refer to people, places, and things. They are used to point out or emphasize certain nouns by giving them more information.

In English, there are four basic demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, and those. In this reference, we will define a demonstrative adjective, learn how to use it, and find handy examples.

What are demonstrative adjectives?

Demonstrative adjective definition "words that indicate which one of a group of people, places, or things you refer to." They can be used to point out objects or people or to describe them in more detail. Demonstrative adjectives are usually placed before the noun they refer to, but they can also be placed after the noun in some cases.

For example, let's take the sentence "This is my book." The demonstrative adjective here is "this," and it is used to point out the book that the speaker is referring to. Another example is "Those are my friends." Here, the demonstrative adjective "those" is used to refer to one group of people, in this case, the speaker's friends.

They can also be used to give more information about a particular object or person. For example, "This red car is mine" uses the demonstrative adjective "this" to point out the car, and "red" to describe it.

Near vs. Far

Demonstrative adjectives can be used to indicate whether something is near or far. Generally speaking, "this" and "these" are used to refer to people or things that are nearby, while "that" and "those" refer to people or things that are far away.

For example, if you are standing in front of a group of people, you would refer to them as "these people." On the other hand, if you were pointing out a group of people across the street, you would refer to them as "those people."

The same rule applies to objects. If you are holding a book, you would say "this book," and if you were pointing to a book across the room, you would say "that book."

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Demonstrative adjectives examples in sentences

Now that we know what demonstrative adjectives are and how to use them, let's look at useful examples:

• "This is my house."
• "That is my car."
• "These are my friends."
• "Those are my shoes."
• "This red jacket is mine."
• "That yellow dress is hers."
• "These books are ours."
• "Those pens are theirs."

It's easy to see how demonstrative adjectives can make our sentences more precise and descriptive.

Common mistakes

When using demonstrative adjectives in English, it is important to be aware of some common mistakes learners make.

Don't use "this" or "these" to refer to something that is far away. Remember, "this" and "these" are used to refer to something near, while "that" and "those" refer to something that is far away. For example, if you are pointing to a house across the street, you would say "that house," not "this house."

Another mistake is not matching the number of the noun and the demonstrative adjective. For example, if you are talking about two books, you would say "these books," not "this books."

Finally, it is important to remember that demonstrative adjectives come before the noun they are describing. For example, you would say "this book," not "book this," which would turn "book" into a verb.

Summary

Demonstrative adjectives are words that can be used to point out or describe people, places, and things. In English, there are four basic demonstrative adjectives: this, that, these, and those. Demonstrative adjectives can also be used to indicate whether something is near or far.

Keep in mind the guidelines we discussed and you'll use demonstratives with confidence in no time!