Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these and those

The same four words do two jobs. The meaning and the number rule stay the same.

For time, this points to now or the near future ("this week", "this year"), and that points to the past ("I remember that day well").

On the phone, use this for yourself and, in British English, that for the other person: "Hello, this is Ahmed. Is that Sara?"

In writing, this and that often refer back to an idea: "Fuel prices doubled. This led to a fall in car use." The meaning is clearer with a noun: "This increase led to a fall in car use."

Those who means the people who: "Those who practise regularly improve faster."

When you compare a feature of two things, don't repeat the noun. Use that of for a singular noun and those of for a plural noun: "The population of Tokyo is larger than that of Delhi." "Salaries in cities are higher than those in villages."

Without that of, the sentence compares the wrong things: "The population of Tokyo is larger than Delhi" compares a population with a city.

• Wrong: These book is very useful for IELTS.

  Right: This book is very useful for IELTS.

  Book is singular, so it needs this.

• Wrong: This are my parents.

  Right: These are my parents.

  Parents is plural, so use these and are.

• Wrong: The price of oil was higher than gas.

  Right: The price of oil was higher than that of gas.

  Compare price with price. That of replaces the price.

• Wrong: Those who works hard will succeed.

  Right: Those who work hard will succeed.

  Those is plural, so the verb is plural.

• Wrong: Those kind of questions are difficult.

  Right: That kind of question is difficult. / Those kinds of questions are difficult.

  Match the demonstrative with kind or kinds. "Those kind of" is common in speech but is avoided in formal writing.

In IELTS Writing Task 1, "that of" and "those of" make comparisons accurate: "The figure for Canada was double that of Australia." In Task 2 and PTE Write Essay, "this" plus a noun ("this problem", "this approach") links your ideas and helps cohesion. A bare "this" at the start of a sentence can be unclear if the reader can't tell what it refers to, so add a noun when in doubt.

Try each one, then open it to check your answer.

1. 1. This or these? "___ shoes are new."

   These

   Shoes is plural and near.

2. 2. Pronoun or determiner? "That looks delicious."

   Pronoun.

   That stands alone with no noun after it.

3. 3. Complete this: "The rainfall in Kerala is higher than ___ in Rajasthan."

   that

   That replaces the singular noun rainfall.

4. 4. Complete this: "Prices in 2020 were lower than ___ in 2024."

   those

   Those replaces the plural noun prices.

5. 5. On the phone, which is more natural? "Hello, (this / that) is Neha speaking."

   this

   Use this when you introduce yourself on the phone.

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• Degrees of comparison
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