Time Reference — This Week, Those Days, These Days
Learn how demonstratives mark time: this for the present period, that for a past moment, these days for nowadays, those days for the past. Covers this evening, this weekend, in those days.
Sample questions
Try these on your own, then open the answer to check.
-
I'm extremely busy ___ week — I have three deadlines.
Show answer
this
'This week' refers to the current week.
-
Life was much simpler in ___ days, before the internet.
Show answer
those
'In those days' refers to a time in the past.
-
I'll never forget ___ day — it was the happiest of my life.
Show answer
that
Use 'that' for a specific day in the past.
-
We have an important meeting ___ Friday — don't be late.
Show answer
this
'This Friday' refers to the coming Friday.
-
I've been feeling really tired ___ days.
Show answer
these
'These days' means 'nowadays' — at the present time.
-
The town where I grew up
I often think about the small town where I grew up. In {1} days, life moved much more slowly. {2} town was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else. {3} years taught me a lot about community and friendship. Now I live in a huge city, and {4} life is completely different — faster, busier and more anonymous. Sometimes, on a quiet evening like {5} one, I really miss my old home. {6} is why I've decided to go back for a visit next month. I want to walk down {7} familiar old streets again and find out whether {8} childhood memories still feel real.
Show answer
1. those — 'In those days' refers to a time in the past.
2. That — 'That town' — referring back to the distant place being described.
3. Those — 'Those years' — a period in the past.
4. this — 'This life' — the speaker's current life.
5. this — 'An evening like this one' — the present evening.
6. That — 'That's why' refers back to the reason just given.
7. those — 'Those familiar old streets' — distant in time and place.
8. these — 'These childhood memories' — the ones present in the speaker's mind now.
Time Reference: How Demonstratives Mark Present and Past
Beyond physical space, English demonstratives encode temporal distance with the same near/far logic. This and these refer to the current or upcoming time period; that and those refer to past periods or moments. This system produces the highly frequent fixed phrases these days (= nowadays), those days (= in the past), this week/morning/evening (current), and that summer/year (a past time both speaker and listener remember). Learner corpus data consistently shows confusion between 'this days' and 'those days' as a fossilized error at B1 level, with 'this days' appearing in contexts that clearly describe the past.
This and These → Present or Near Future
What are you doing this evening?
What are you doing this weekend?
Things are different these days. Everything has changed.
That and Those → Past Periods
In those days, people didn't have smartphones.
She told me about her trip. That was in 2019, I think.
Life was simpler in those days.
Common Mistakes
✗ Those days everyone uses the internet. → ✓ These days everyone uses the internet.
✗ Do you remember this summer in Italy? → ✓ Do you remember that summer in Italy?
Last updated: · Satori Editorial