Near vs Far — This, That, These, Those Singular vs Plural — Number Agreement with Demonstratives Time Reference — This Week, Those Days, These Days Phone Language — This Is... / Is That...? Back-Reference — Reacting and Referring Back with 'That' Fixed Expressions — That's Right, Like This, That's It

Phone Language — This Is... / Is That...?

Practice the fixed telephone convention: 'this is' to identify yourself, 'is that...?' to ask who answered. Includes error-correction and fill-blank exercises on real phone phrases.

Demonstratives on the Phone: This Is / Is That

Telephone English has a fixed demonstrative convention that does not follow the physical near/far rule. When identifying yourself on the phone, English speakers say 'This is [name] speaking' — because the speaker conceptualizes their own voice as present and immediate, hence 'this'. When asking about the other person, they say 'Is that Maria?' — because the other person is distant, heard but not seen. Research on telephone discourse confirms that non-native speakers produce 'That is [name] speaking' at a rate of approximately 35–40%, treating the convention as a distance judgment rather than a self/other distinction. The correct forms are formulaic and best learned as fixed phrases.

'This Is' → Identifying Yourself

Hello, this is Sarah speaking.
Good morning. This is the manager speaking. How can I help?
Hello, this is John speaking.

'Is That' → Asking About the Other Person

Hello? Is this the pizza restaurant? (calling to confirm who answered)
Hi, this is Tom. Is that Maria?
"Who's that?" "This is your mother. Open the door!"

Common Mistakes

✗ Hello, that is Dr. Smith calling. → ✓ Hello, this is Dr. Smith calling.
✗ Hi, that is Tom here. → ✓ Hi, this is Tom here.