Demonstrative Determiners

Definition with Examples

Demonstrative Determiners refer to a person, place, article, thing and determine their physical or psychological distance from the speaker. Examples of Demonstratives are- here, this, these, there, those, that. Go through the following sentences-

Examples

• Here are the books you asked for.

‘Here’ indicates the proximity of the articles-books to the speaker.

• This is one fabulous car.

‘This’ indicates that either the car is near to the speaker or he is looking at it in the moment.

• God only knows what will happen to these poor children.

Again ‘these’ is used because the subjects being talked about i.e. children are near to the speaker.

Here, this, these are demonstratives used when the speaker is near to them. Though, they may also be used to represent present. Like-

• This is a wonderful day.
• This is a scary moment.
• You don’t find many gentlemen these days.
• Here is the moment you waited for years.

Demonstratives like there, those, that indicate a farther distance of subjects from the speaker, sometimes they may be used to refer to the past. Go through the following example sentences-

• There goes the Plane.
• Those are my children on the balcony.
• Is that you car in the parking?
• That must have been a wonderful experience.
• Those days were much better.
• Those days were much better than these.
• That was a wonderful speech.

Demonstratives can be placed before the noun or adjective. For Ex- that car, that black car, those shiny diamonds etc. Demonstratives can also be used when the noun is understood from the context. For ex-

• I got this one.
• This one is sour.
• These are broken.
• That doesn’t concern me.
• Those are not my responsibility.

Exercises/Worksheets/Activities

Fill in the Blanks

Complete the given sentences by using appropriate Demonstrative Determiners. Refer to the Answer provided in the end.

1. _______ is your book that I borrowed.
2. _______ is an unexpected turn of events.
3. _______ were the most sweet potatoes that I ever tasted.
4. _________ is an old temple above the hill.
5. Whose beautiful horse is ________.
6. ________ is a wonderful pair of birds.
7. _______ are my best sport shoes.
8. ________ is a beautiful day.
9. I was ________ when the incident happened.
10. In ________ days we didn’t had much entertainment.

MCQs With Answers

• _______ is the coffee you ordered.
  1. here
  2. there
  3. those
• He stood _________ at the bus stop waiting for the bus.
  1. this
  2. those
  3. there
• ________ are some of the best apples I tasted.
  1. that
  2. these
  3. this
• ______ is one of the best experiences of my life.
  1. this
  2. these
  3. there
• Whose books are ________ lying over there?
  1. this
  2. those
  3. there
• ________ was a common gesture of greeting someone.
  1. this
  2. there
  3. that

• The moment you were waiting for is ________.
  1. there
  2. here
  3. these
• Once ________ was a ship named Titanic.
  1. there
  2. this
  3. that
• I still miss ________ college days.
  1. these
  2. those
  3. there
• _______ were the best days of my life.
  1. these
  2. there
  3. those
• ________ car over there belongs to my uncle.
  1. that
  2. these
  3. this
• _________ books belong to my friend.
  1. there
  2. this
  3. these
• _______ diamonds were sold for a huge amount of money.
  1. this
  2. those
  3. that
• The message ________ you gave me was delivered promptly
  1. these
  2. there
  3. that
• Where _________ is a lake ________ has to be fish in it.
  1. there, there
  2. this, there
  3. there, this

 True or False

1. I have the money there with me now.
2. This is a beautiful car.
3. These apples were sour.
4. Those grapes were rotten.
5. There was a kingdom named Patliputra.
6. That man was asking for help.
7. These were my life’s best results.
8. There was no one to be seen for miles.
9. The man over there is looking for you.
10. Behind every successful man there is a woman.
11. Those one over here belongs to me.
12. These is the most costly book I have.
13. My friends are hiking somewhere over there on the mountain.
14. That people were really courteous.
15. Those are my best pair of shoes.

Answers–

Fill in The Blanks-1)this, 2)this, 3)those, 4)there, 5)this, 6)this, 7)these, 8)this, 9)there, 10)those

MCQs– 1)a, 2)c, 3)b, 4)a, 5)b, 6)c, 7)b, 8)a, 9)b, 10)c, 11)a, 12)c, 13)b, 14)c, 15)a

True or False– 1)false, 2)true, 3)false, 4)true, 5)true, 6)true, 7)false, 8)true, 9)true, 10)true, 11)false, 12)true, 13)true, 14)false, 15)true

How you can make True the False ones, Here it is described:

1) I have the money here with me now.

3) Those apples were sour.

7) Those were my life’s best results

11) This one over here belongs to me.

14) This is the most costly book I have.