Primary English tuition for Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) families should help students use small reference words such as this, that, these and those accurately across speech, comprehension and writing. eduKateSG is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or part of Anglo-Chinese School (Primary); this is an independent tuition resource for families.
This rebuilt legacy URL now owns one distinct teaching job: demonstrative reference—reference → distance → number → cohesion. The old school-specific boilerplate, obsolete contact details and generic 2017 claims have been removed.
eduKateSG currently teaches selected Primary English students in focused 3-pax small groups, typically 1.5 hours, at 83 Punggol Central, Singapore 828761 and 8 Fourth Avenue, Singapore 268674.
The Direct Answer
Demonstratives help a speaker or writer point to something:
- this — singular, psychologically or physically near;
- that — singular, more distant or less immediate;
- these — plural, near;
- those — plural, more distant.
But “distance” is not only physical. A writer can use this idea to refer to a point just introduced, or that experience to refer back to an earlier event.
Demonstratives are tiny pointing devices. Strong readers always ask: what exactly is being pointed to?
Physical Reference
“Please pass me that book.” The speaker assumes both people can identify the book from context, gesture or shared environment.
“Look at these pictures.” The plural form points to several items treated as near or currently attended to.
Textual Reference
“The class changed the plan after the weather warning. This decision allowed the activity to continue indoors.”
This decision points back to the whole earlier action, not merely to the nearest noun.
Students need to recover the proposition being referred to before answering questions about effect or purpose.
Worked Example: This vs It
“The bus was delayed. This caused the group to miss the first activity.”
Here this can refer to the whole fact that the bus was delayed.
“The bus was delayed. It arrived twenty minutes later.” Here it refers to the bus itself.
The difference is useful in comprehension because one pronoun points to an entity while the demonstrative can point to an event or idea.
Worked Example: Ambiguous “That”
“Mira told Lina that the teacher had changed the schedule, and she disliked that.”
What does that refer to—the teacher, the schedule, or the fact that the schedule changed?
Context may resolve it, but strong writers reduce ambiguity when the referent matters: “Mira disliked the schedule change.”
Near/Far Is Also Discourse Distance
In conversation, a speaker may say:
- “This is what I mean…” — bringing an idea into focus now.
- “Do you remember that problem we discussed last week?” — treating the event as more distant in time or discourse.
Students learn that English reference follows attention as well as space.
Number Must Agree
“This books” and “these book” are mismatched.
- this book / these books;
- that idea / those ideas.
The demonstrative gives the reader early information about number before the noun arrives.
Demonstratives as Determiners and Pronouns
Determiner use: “This answer is clearer.”
Pronoun-like use: “This is clearer.”
When the noun is omitted, the context must make the referent recoverable.
Worked Example: Composition
Weak: “I saw a wallet under the bench. I picked up the wallet. The wallet had a card. This was worrying.”
What was worrying—the card, the wallet, or the situation?
Stronger: “I saw a wallet under the bench and found a student card inside it. This discovery worried me because someone might already be searching for it.”
The demonstrative phrase names the event being carried forward.
Worked Example: Informational Writing
“Regular reading exposes learners to vocabulary in context. These repeated encounters help students learn how words behave across different sentences.”
These points back to multiple encounters, preserving number and topic continuity.
The Referent Test
Circle this/that/these/those and draw an arrow to the exact noun, event or idea it refers to.
If two arrows are equally plausible, the sentence may need repair.
The Replacement Test
Replace the demonstrative with an explicit noun phrase:
“This caused confusion.” → “The timetable change caused confusion.”
If the replacement does not preserve meaning, the original reference was not understood.
The Distance Test
Ask whether the choice expresses physical distance, time distance, discourse distance or current attention. This prevents students from memorising “this = near, that = far” too narrowly.
Demonstratives in Visual Text
A poster may say “Register for this workshop today” while visually presenting the workshop beside the text. The demonstrative points to a shared visual object.
Students should integrate text and visual layout rather than read the word in isolation.
Demonstratives in Oral Communication
Gesture and eye gaze can help establish the referent: “Could you move that chair?” In spoken interaction, the physical environment supplies evidence that written text would need to state more explicitly.
P1–P2: Concrete Pointing
Young learners can pair singular/plural forms with real classroom objects, then use the same forms in simple picture descriptions.
P3–P4: Textual Reference
Middle-primary students can trace this idea, that event, these changes across paragraphs and repair ambiguous references in writing.
P5–P6: Proposition Reference and Cohesion
Upper-primary students can use demonstratives to carry whole ideas forward in comprehension, Situational Writing and explanation. The MOE Primary English syllabus treats grammar, vocabulary and text organisation as resources for meaning. Official reference: MOE English Language Syllabus 2020 Primary.
Common Demonstrative Failure Modes
| Symptom | Issue | Repair |
|---|---|---|
| this/these mismatch | Number not tracked | Check noun number |
| “This” points nowhere clear | Referent vague | Name event/idea explicitly |
| that assumed only physical distance | Discourse function missed | Check time/attention context |
| Pronoun and demonstrative confused | Entity vs proposition reference blurred | Run replacement test |
| Writing repeats nouns mechanically | No controlled reference compression | Use demonstrative phrase when safe |
Why Three Students Helps
Three students can be given the same paragraph and asked what each demonstrative points to. Differences reveal whether the reference is genuinely clear or only obvious to the original writer.
When Anglo-Chinese School (Primary) Families May Consider This Support
- This/that/these/those errors recur.
- Comprehension reference questions are weak.
- Writing contains vague “this” and “that”.
- Paragraphs repeat nouns because pronoun/reference choices feel unsafe.
- P5–P6 English needs finer cohesion control.
What Progress Should Look Like
A stronger learner can identify the exact referent, choose singular/plural and near/distant forms deliberately, and use demonstrative phrases to carry ideas forward without ambiguity.
Independent tuition notice: eduKateSG is not affiliated with Anglo-Chinese School (Primary). Current centres: 83 Punggol Central, Singapore 828761 and 8 Fourth Avenue, Singapore 268674. Contact +65 8823 1234.