Demonstrative Pronouns: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what demonstrative pronouns are? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on demonstrative pronouns, including the definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

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What is a demonstrative pronoun?

According to Ginger, a demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that is used to point to something specific within a sentence. These can be singular demonstrative pronouns or plural demonstrative pronouns, and indicate items in space or time, whether near or far. The English grammar demonstrative pronouns include this, these, that and those, as well as such, none, and neither. There are also relative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives in the English language.

These types of pronouns also exist in Spanish and French. In Spanish, the Spanish demonstrative pronouns are estos esos, aquellos, estas, esas, aquellas, aquel, aquella, eso, este, esa, and esto. According to Fluent U, the French demonstrative pronouns are celui, celle, cela, lequel, cette, ceci, ceux, ci, and celles. In the romance languages, the pronoun status depends on the masculine gender or the feminine gender of the noun.

Many different languages also contain terms that mean demonstrative pronoun. You may notice that many of these translations of demonstrative pronoun from Word Sense look and sound similar to the term demonstrative pronoun. These are called cognates, which are formed when two words have the same root or language of origin. 

  •  Thai: นิยมสรรพนาม‎
  •  Romanian: pronume demonstrativ‎ (neut.)
  •  Irish: forainm taispeántach‎ (masc.)
  •  Lithuanian: parodomasis įvardis‎
  •  Dutch: aanwijzend voornaamwoord‎ (neut.)
  •  Faroese: ávísingarfornavn‎ (neut.)
  •  Icelandic: ábendingarfornafn‎ (neut.), sérstætt ábendingarfornafn‎ (neut.)
  •  Novial: demonstrativi pronomine‎
  •  Tagalog: panghalip na pamatlig‎
  •  Mandarin: 指示代詞‎, 指示代词‎ (zhǐshì dàicí)
  •  French: pronom démonstratif‎ (masc.)
  •  Russian: указа́тельное местоиме́ние‎ (neut.)
  •  German: hinweisendes Fürwort‎ (neut.), Demonstrativpronomen‎ (neut.), Demonstrativum‎ (neut.), Demonstrativ‎ (neut.)
  •  Armenian: բացատրական դերանուն‎
  •  Finnish: demonstratiivipronomini‎
  •  Japanese: 指示代名詞‎ (しじだいめいし shiji daimeishi)
  •  Esperanto: monstra pronomo‎, demonstrativo‎
  •  Portuguese: pronome demonstrativo‎ (masc.)
  •  Latin: pronomen demonstrativum‎
  •  Estonian: näitav asesõna‎
  •  Hungarian: mutató névmás‎
  •  Italian: pronome dimostrativo‎ (masc.)
  •  Swedish: demonstrativt pronomen‎ (neut.)
  •  Korean: 지시대명사‎
  •  Greek: δεικτική αντωνυμία‎ (fem.)
  •  Spanish: pronombre demostrativo‎ (masc.)

What are examples of demonstrative pronouns?

A demonstrative pronoun can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! The following sentences are examples of demonstrative pronouns from Your Dictionary that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term demonstrative pronouns today or notice when someone else is using a demonstrative pronoun.

  •  I really love heavy metal music, but my dad does not. He will allow none to be played in the car.
  •  Everything seems vague. Such is the reality of relationships.
  •  This bendy yoga pose really hurts.
  •  What is that frightening creature?
  •  That food you’re cooking smells delicious.
  •  I love apple pie and cherry pie. These are my favorite pies.
  •  Is this book yours or mine?
  •  Alfred did not understand why that was useful information. 
  •  The young woman needed extra time to decipher such an accent. 
  •  That jewel came into play in an important chapter of the book by Ealdorman.
  •  Bob was late again. That boy is stressing me out.
  •  I told you those old magazines were a fire hazard.
  •  These pink cupcakes are my favorites.
  •  Did you finally throw away that old t-shirt?
  •  I loved growing beets and tomatoes. Those were my gardening favorites.
  •  How did you know I wanted some candy? This really hits the spot.
  •  I don’t like eggs or celery. Neither appeals to me.

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  • quasi-
  •  infinitive
  •  predicative
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •   subjunctive
  •  causative
  •  combination
  •  modify | modifier
  •  pro-form
  •  filler
  •  perfect
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  main verb
  •  collective noun
  •  possessive
  •  locative
  •  part of speech
  •  noun (n.)
  •  anaphoric
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  indirect speech
  •  vocative
  •  noun phrase
  •  positive
  •  stem
  •  transitive
  •  gender
  •  abstract
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  objective
  •  intensifier
  •  nominal relative | nominal relative clause
  •  direct object
  •  verbal noun
  •  protasis
  •  direct question
  •  zero
  •  determiner
  •  cognate object
  •  present tense
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  agent noun
  •  possessive pronouns | proper name
  •  conditional
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  indirect question
  •  non-finite
  •  declarative
  •  case
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  attributive
  •  passive infinitive
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  clause
  •  present participle
  •  verb (v.)
  •  that-clause
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  number
  •  compound | compounding
  •  accusative
  •  indefinite
  •  complementary
  •  reflexive
  •  feminine
  •  mass noun
  •  interrogative
  •  definite article
  •  participial adjective
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  interjection
  •  personal pronoun
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  complement
  •  optative
  •  suffix
  •  mood
  •  element
  •  construction
  •  demonstrative
  •  nominative
  •  prepositional passive
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  main clause
  •  dative
  •  indirect object
  •  appositive
  •  genitive
  •  non-referential
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  antecedent
  •  person
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  passive
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  masculine
  •  base form
  •  agree | agreement
  •  singular
  •  double object
  •  phrasal verb
  •  head
  •  prepositional object
  •  progressive
  •  plural
  •  to-infinitive
  •  parasynthetic
  •  finite
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  cataphoric
  •  special use
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  dual
  •  anticipatory
  •  neuter
  •  second person
  •  past participle
  •  tense
  •  concrete
  •  relative
  •  count noun
  •  subjective
  •  active
  •  article
  •  apposition
  •  possessive adjective
  •  intransitive
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  similative
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  common noun
  •  first person
  •  subordinate clause
  •  indirect passive
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  adjective
  •  bare infinitive
  •  subject
  •  direct speech
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  third-person
  •  superlative
  •  prefix
  •  instrumental
  •  past tense
  •  comparative
  •  morpheme
  •  indicative
  •  simple

Overall, the term demonstrative pronouns refers to the English words these, those, that, this, none, neither, and such.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of Grammatical Terms | OED
  2. French Demonstrative Pronouns: A Sweet Shortcut to Simpler French | Fluent U 
  3. demonstrative pronoun: meaning, translation | Word Sense 
  4. What Is a Demonstrative Pronoun? | Your Dictionary 
  5. What Is a Demonstrative Pronoun? Examples & Exercises | Ginger