English for Students

These and Those

What is the difference between These and Those?


E.g. Sonny has many qualities worth recognizing and the purpose of this letter is to point out two of these/those qualities.


These/those are the plural forms of this/that and behave in the same way. As a determiner this is used to identify a specific person or thing close at hand or being experienced. As a determiner that refers to the more distant of two things and this refers to, of two things, near to the speaker or to a specific thing previously mentioned.


So in the context mentioned these would be best.


See our section on This or These.





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