Demonstrative Adjectives: What It Is and How To Use It

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

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What is a demonstrative adjective?

According to Your Dictionary, the demonstrative adjectives are this, that, these, and those – less commonly, you may see yon and yonder. These indicate which noun or pronoun you are referring to in a sentence, if it is singular or plural, and where it is in time and space. These are used in the famous line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: “What light through yonder window breaks?”

Demonstrative pronouns also exist in Spanish and French. In Spanish, the Spanish demonstrative adjectives are estos, ese, esos, aquellos, estas, esas, aquellas, aquel, aquella, este, esa, and esta. According to Fluent U, the French demonstrative adjectives are celui, celle, cela, ces, cet, lequel, cette, ceci, ceux, ci, and celles. The demonstratives depend on the masculine gender or the feminine gender of the noun as well as if they are singular nouns or plural nouns.

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

  •  French: adjectif démonstratif‎ (masc.)
  •  Russian: указа́тельное прилага́тельное‎ (neut.)
  •  German: see adjektivisches Demonstrativpronomen
  •  Irish: aidiacht thaispeántach‎ (fem.)
  •  Icelandic: hliðstætt ábendingarfornafn‎ (neut.)
  •  Dutch: bijvoegelijk aanwijzend voornaamwoord‎ (neut.)
  •  Japanese: 指示形容詞‎ (shiji keiyōshi)
  •  Norman: adjectif dêmonstratif‎ (masc.)
  •  Romanian: adjectiv demonstrativ‎ (neut.)

What are examples of demonstrative determiners?

A demonstrative adjective 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 adjectives from Your Dictionary and Learn Grammar that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term demonstrative adjectives today or notice when someone else is using a demonstrative adjective.

  •  I could not manage it at that moment.
  •  Those rascals are back in the town.
  •  I wanted to propose you that day.
  •  But this hut is more beautiful than that building.
  •  I cannot give you money at this moment.
  •  These mangoes are rotting.
  •  The seventh day of the week is Sunday.
  •  For her fiftieth birthday party, we bought my mom a huge cake.
  •  That building is stronger than this hut.
  •  Will you please grant me that loan we talked about?
  •  In the late nineteenth century, the Civil War in the United States was fought.
  •  This pen is smoother than that pen.
  •  After my third piece of pizza, I was stuffed.
  •  I want those gorgeous marbles.
  •  Those people were mean to her.
  •  I can’t forget that incident.
  •  Give me that blue water bottle.
  •  The first paycheck I received was for $500.
  •  This time I won’t fail you.
  •  I gave him that shirt on Monday.
  •  This placement of the frame has to be equivalent to the other side.
  •  That newsletter is rife with ambiguity and blank spaces, and could use clarity.
  •  I had difficulty understanding those accents.

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. 

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

Overall, the term demonstrative adjectives refer to which noun or pronoun you are referring to in a sentence.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of Grammatical Terms | OED
  2. Examples of Demonstrative Adjective | Learn English  
  3. demonstrative adjective: meaning, translation, synonyms | Word Sense 
  4. What Is a Demonstrative Adjective? A Simple Explanation | Your Dictionary 
  5. French Demonstrative Pronouns: A Sweet Shortcut to Simpler French | Fluent U