Punggol Secondary 2 English tuition should help students track viewpoint words whose meaning shifts depending on who is speaking, where they are and when the sentence is produced. Words such as this, that, here, there, now, then, today, tomorrow are small, but they can quietly change reference when a sentence is reported, quoted or moved into another context.
This rebuilt legacy URL now owns one distinct Sec 2 English job: speaker → place/time anchor → deictic word → referent → viewpoint shift → rewrite. Old generic promotional copy and stale exam claims have been removed.
eduKateSG’s current Punggol centre is at 83 Punggol Central, Singapore 828761. Selected Secondary English classes run in focused 3-pax small groups, typically 1.5 hours.
The Direct Answer
Deixis refers to words whose meaning depends on the speaker’s context.
- this/that — relative distance or discourse focus;
- here/there — place relative to speaker/viewpoint;
- now/then — time relative to speaking point;
- today/tomorrow/yesterday — calendar time relative to “now”.
To interpret a deictic word, first locate the speaker’s “I–here–now”.
This vs That
“This book” usually presents the book as near the speaker or currently foregrounded.
“That book” often presents it as farther away, previously mentioned or more distant in discourse.
The difference is relational, not fixed to a specific number of metres.
Here vs There
“I left the bag here.”
The word here means the speaker’s current relevant location.
If another person reports the sentence elsewhere, here may need to become there or a named place.
Now vs Then
Direct speech:
“I am busy now.”
Later report:
“She said she was busy then.”
The time anchor shifts.
Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday
Direct:
“I will submit it tomorrow.”
Reported a day later:
“She said she would submit it the next day.”
Mechanical word replacement is not always needed if the reporting time is unchanged; the goal is to preserve reference.
Worked Example: Message Screenshot
A message says:
“Meet me here tomorrow.”
Without sender location and message date, here and tomorrow cannot be interpreted fully.
This is why context metadata matters in real communication.
Speaker Deixis
Pronouns also depend on viewpoint:
“I will call you.”
Who is I? Who is you?
Quotation marks preserve the original speaker’s reference; reported speech often shifts it.
Direct vs Reported Speech
Direct:
Mira said, “I left my bag here yesterday.”
Reported later elsewhere:
“Mira said that she had left her bag there the previous day.”
Pronoun, place and time all re-anchor.
The Anchor Table
| Type | Direct viewpoint | Possible shifted form |
|---|---|---|
| Person | I / you | she / he / they / me |
| Place | here | there / named place |
| Time | now | then |
| Date | tomorrow | the next day |
Deixis in Narrative
A first-person narrator may say:
“I could hear footsteps behind me.”
A third-person retelling may need:
“Mira could hear footsteps behind her.”
The spatial relationship survives even though pronouns change.
Deixis in Instructions
“Place the answer here.”
If the instruction appears beside a box, here is visually anchored.
If copied into plain text without layout, the reference may become unclear.
Deixis in Advertisements
“Buy now.”
Now creates urgency relative to the reader’s current moment.
“This offer” foregrounds the advertised offer as the current discourse object.
Discourse Deixis
Words such as this can point not only to physical objects but to an earlier idea:
“The road was closed for three hours. This caused major delays.”
This refers to the preceding situation.
Students should identify the full proposition, not merely the nearest noun.
The Nearest-Noun Trap
“The council delayed the project after residents objected. This created uncertainty.”
What does this refer to—the delay, the objection, or the whole event?
Context and causal logic determine the best referent.
The Viewpoint-Shift Test
Imagine the same sentence is spoken:
- by another person;
- in another place;
- one day later.
Which words must change for the same real-world meaning to remain?
Worked Example: “Come” vs “Go”
“Come to my office” often frames movement toward the speaker’s location.
“Go to my office” may frame movement away from the current speaker location or from another viewpoint.
Motion verbs can also encode perspective.
Worked Example: “Bring” vs “Take”
“Bring the file here” usually frames movement toward the relevant viewpoint.
“Take the file there” frames movement away toward another location.
These choices can become unstable in reported speech.
Deixis and Ambiguity
Weak:
“Put it there after that.”
Without shared context, all three references—it, there, that—may be unclear.
Formal writing often replaces deictic shortcuts with explicit nouns, places and times.
Comprehension
If a character says “I can’t stay here now,” identify:
- speaker;
- location;
- time point;
- reason from context.
Do not paraphrase until the anchors are resolved.
Situational Writing
Emails often need explicit time/place:
Weak: “Meet me there tomorrow.”
Stronger: “Meet me at the school library on Friday at 3 p.m.”
The second survives when the message is reread later.
Sec 2 Progression
Secondary 2 students encounter reported speech, narrative viewpoint, visual texts and increasingly complex reference chains. MOE’s Secondary English Language Syllabus 2020 emphasises coherent interpretation of language in context. Official reference: MOE Secondary English Language Syllabus 2020.
Common Deixis Failure Modes
| Symptom | Issue | Repair |
|---|---|---|
| here copied into later report | Place anchor not shifted | Re-anchor location |
| tomorrow copied days later | Time anchor stale | Use date/next day |
| this mapped to nearest noun only | Discourse reference missed | Test full proposition |
| come/go mixed | Viewpoint ignored | Locate destination relative to speaker |
| message full of it/there/then | Context dependence too high | Use explicit reference |
Why Three Students Helps
One student identifies speaker/place/time anchors, one rewrites the sentence from a new viewpoint, and the third checks whether the same real-world reference survived.
What Progress Should Look Like
A stronger Sec 2 learner can resolve deictic words from context, shift them accurately in reported speech and replace context-dependent wording with explicit reference when clarity requires it.
Current class enquiries: selected eduKateSG Secondary English 3-pax small groups, typically 1.5 hours. Punggol centre: 83 Punggol Central, Singapore 828761. Contact +65 8823 1234.