Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Here are the four words you need for this lesson:

That's it!

Even though these (there one is again!) words are used frequently, we need to learn how they are used -- and that includes knowing when they are used as pronouns and when they are used as adjectives.

• What is the difference between this lemon and that lemon?

If you said distance, you're correct!

If I said, "This lemon is sour," you'd know that I was talking about a lemon I had close to me, likely in my grasp.

If I said, "That lemon looks ripe," you'd know I was talking about a lemon that was a little further away, certainly not in my hand.

These and those serve the same purpose, but they are plural (meaning they refer to more than one or multiples of one thing).

That's pretty straightforward.

• But what is the difference between demonstrative pronouns and adjectives?

The first step to understanding is to remember what pronouns and adjectives do.

Adjectives describe nouns, but they cannot replace them in a sentence.

So "this lemon" is an example of a demonstrative adjective because this describe the noun lemon:

Pronouns are words that can stand in place of a noun in a sentence.

Let's look at the lemon example again. If you were eating lunch with your best friend who said, "This is sour!" you'd know this was replacing lemon in the sentence because you could see what your friend was eating.

Move on to the Got It? section to test out your new understanding of demonstrative nouns and adjectives.