Near vs Far — This, That, These, Those
Practice the core distance contrast: this and these for things near the speaker, that and those for things further away. Fill-blank, error-correction and sentence-reorder exercises.
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___ book here on my desk is really fascinating.
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This
'This' for one thing that is near the speaker — 'here on my desk'.
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Can you see ___ tall building over there?
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that
'That' for one thing that is far from the speaker — 'over there'.
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What's ___ strange noise coming from upstairs?
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that
'That' for one thing that is not near the speaker.
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Look at ___ birds high up in the sky!
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those
'Those' for more than one thing that is far away.
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Could you pass me ___ books on the top shelf, please?
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those
'Those' for more than one thing that is far from the speaker.
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I really like ___ painting right in front of us.
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this
'This' for one thing that is near the speaker — 'in front of us'.
Near vs Far: The Core Distance Contrast
The most fundamental use of English demonstratives is spatial: this (singular) and these (plural) refer to things near the speaker; that (singular) and those (plural) refer to things further away. Research on demonstrative acquisition shows that learners acquire the basic near/far contrast early but continue to make proximity confusion errors under communicative pressure — particularly when adverbials like 'here' and 'there' are absent, leaving the speaker to infer distance from context alone. The most common near/far error in learner corpora is using 'those' with objects explicitly described as being near the speaker, such as 'Pass me those scissors here on the table.'
Near: This and These
Use this (singular) or these (plural) when the referent is close — physically in hand, on the desk, or explicitly described with 'here'.
These flowers in my hand are for you.
Come and look at this! I found it right here.
Far: That and Those
Use that (singular) or those (plural) when the referent is at a distance — across the room, across the street, or described with 'over there'.
Look at those birds in the sky!
What are those lights on the hill over there?
Contrasting Both in One Sentence
When both a near and a far referent appear together, the demonstratives signal the contrast directly.
Look at those beautiful mountains.
Common Mistakes
✗ Look at these clouds over there! → ✓ Look at those clouds over there! ('over there' = far)
Last updated: · Satori Editorial