This and That
Someone in a writing group I'm in asked recently asked which one of these was correct:
I thought it was an interesting question, so I took a bit of time replying. You might find this interesting too, as I haven't seen any other articles discussing this difference.
In general, "this" is for things close to you, and "that" is for things further away from you. Or another way, "this" is something that you hold (in your hand or more figuratively) and "that" is something you point to.
This applies to temporal distance too, e.g.
When you are talking about future events, it gets a little muddier. "This" obviously applies to the present ("This ceremony is so much fun."), and "that" to the future or past ("My party is tomorrow. That will be so much fun."). ("My birthday was yesterday. That was a great day").
Of course, the line can be a bit blurry. Often we talk about the future as part of the present. E.g.
"Go and get your water pistol. This is going to be great".
In this example, we are talking about the future like it is the present. ( "... would be my only chance"). Since we are talking like it's the present, we use "this".
Notice that if we talk about the ceremony like it's the future or the past, we use "that". E.g.
"Tomorrow we will be alone together at the ceremony. That will be my only chance to.... I must make the most of it.".
"We were alone together at the ceremony yesterday. That was my only chance to... and I blew it."
To further complicate things, "were" is used as plural of was ("I was sad" / "They were sad"), but also in a hypothetical (subjunctive) sense. e.g. "We were going to be together at the ceremony, but it was cancelled"). In this case, the event question is considered "far away" from you (in hypothetical land perhaps), so you'd use "that". "We were going to be together... but it was cancelled. That would have been a great opportunity to ..."
Like many things in English, the distinction can be pretty fuzzy. Say you are walking through a car park. If you pointed off in the distance, you'd say to someone "that is my car". When you got close to it, you'd say "this is my car". But how close do you have to be to change words? It's fuzzy.
Furthermore, the distinction can sometimes refer to an emotional distance, rather than a physical one. A woman proud to introduce her charming beau may say "This is my boyfriend", whereas one disgusted by his recent crude joke may say "That's my boyfriend". Though the physical distance is the same, in the latter she's trying to put some social and emotional distance between them. :)
- We were going to be alone during the ceremony. This would be my only chance to throw myself on his mercy.
- We were going to be alone during the ceremony. That would be my only chance to throw myself on his mercy.
I thought it was an interesting question, so I took a bit of time replying. You might find this interesting too, as I haven't seen any other articles discussing this difference.
In general, "this" is for things close to you, and "that" is for things further away from you. Or another way, "this" is something that you hold (in your hand or more figuratively) and "that" is something you point to.
This applies to temporal distance too, e.g.
- "1983, now that was a great year"
- "I love 2017 - this is a really great year"
- "I can't wait until I'm living in 2037. That will be so much fun".
When you are talking about future events, it gets a little muddier. "This" obviously applies to the present ("This ceremony is so much fun."), and "that" to the future or past ("My party is tomorrow. That will be so much fun."). ("My birthday was yesterday. That was a great day").
Of course, the line can be a bit blurry. Often we talk about the future as part of the present. E.g.
"Go and get your water pistol. This is going to be great".
In this example, we are talking about the future like it is the present. ( "... would be my only chance"). Since we are talking like it's the present, we use "this".
Notice that if we talk about the ceremony like it's the future or the past, we use "that". E.g.
"Tomorrow we will be alone together at the ceremony. That will be my only chance to.... I must make the most of it.".
"We were alone together at the ceremony yesterday. That was my only chance to... and I blew it."
To further complicate things, "were" is used as plural of was ("I was sad" / "They were sad"), but also in a hypothetical (subjunctive) sense. e.g. "We were going to be together at the ceremony, but it was cancelled"). In this case, the event question is considered "far away" from you (in hypothetical land perhaps), so you'd use "that". "We were going to be together... but it was cancelled. That would have been a great opportunity to ..."
Like many things in English, the distinction can be pretty fuzzy. Say you are walking through a car park. If you pointed off in the distance, you'd say to someone "that is my car". When you got close to it, you'd say "this is my car". But how close do you have to be to change words? It's fuzzy.
Furthermore, the distinction can sometimes refer to an emotional distance, rather than a physical one. A woman proud to introduce her charming beau may say "This is my boyfriend", whereas one disgusted by his recent crude joke may say "That's my boyfriend". Though the physical distance is the same, in the latter she's trying to put some social and emotional distance between them. :)
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