JTF.ORG Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: 2honest on July 14, 2008, 06:36:53 PM
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This is a thread where non-native speakers can post questions in order to improve their English.
Since the majority of JTFers are native speakers it should be easy to give some reasonable hints.
I dont know if everyone feels confortable with it but as far as I'm concerned I encourage people to respond if they realize a lack of linguistical knowledge.
So if you feel that I have put together grammatical nonsense go ahead and correct me.
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How do I use the words "this" and "that"?
If someone describes an idea and I respond do I say I like this idea or I like that idea?
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A lot of stuff is just intuitive to me. I don't know the "rules", I just automatically use them the right way. I usually can only recognize a "rules violation" if someone says something wrong.
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The best way of describing it is thinking about 2 people who are talking about a man.
If the man they are talking about is present the 2 people would say "this" man, but if the man is not present they would say "that" man.
I hope this helps in some way, it probably doesn't, I'm very confusing and not good at explaining!
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This is a thread where non-native speakers can post questions in order to improve their English.
Since the majority of JTFers are native speakers it should be easy to give some reasonable hints.
I dont know if everyone feels confortable with it but as far as I'm concerned I encourage people to respond if they realize a lack of linguistical knowledge.
So if you feel that I have put together grammatical nonsense go ahead and correct me.
***********************
How do I use the words "this" and "that"?
If someone describes an idea and I respond do I say I like this idea or I like that idea?
most english speakers don't know te grammatical rules as rules.
They just know what sounds right.
but I guess we learnt things like
I feel
you feel
he feels
she feels
they feel
for different verbs.
As far as the words this and that are concerned.
we just know use from hearing it.
I tried to define it myself, but found a better definition here
I find this cambridge dictionary online very concise.
I usually just use that one. But if a word is not in it, I use the oxford dictionary
http://dictionary.cambridge.org
That
used to refer to a person, object, idea, etc. which is separated from the speaker by space or time:
The oxford english dictionary is the most authoritative dictionary in britain.
The search may not be that good though. I just amend the URL to have the correct word! so replace "that" with "this" or "bliss" or whatever.
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/that?view=uk
That
..referring to the more distant of two things near to the speaker...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
popular with americans
That
...the one farther away or less immediately under observation or discussion ..
It is easy to find lots of uses of the word e.g. via google.
googling "this person" "that person"
you would hear english words used all the time. English is being used everywhere. In films. Everything. You seem to have a good vocabulary.
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This is a thread where non-native speakers can post questions in order to improve their English.
Since the majority of JTFers are native speakers it should be easy to give some reasonable hints.
I dont know if everyone feels confortable with it but as far as I'm concerned I encourage people to respond if they realize a lack of linguistical knowledge.
So if you feel that I have put together grammatical nonsense go ahead and correct me.
***********************
How do I use the words "this" and "that"?
If someone describes an idea and I respond do I say I like this idea or I like that idea?
I think that in many cases either one is okay. But generally if something is closer to you in time or space you'd say "this thing" and if it's farther from you in time or space you'd say "that thing". But in the case of an idea...I'm not so sure why we say one or the other...just sorta need to listen to a lot of English to get the hang of it...I think when you want to associate yourself with the idea (you agree with it) you're probably more likely to use "this" than "that.
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Thanks for your responses! O0
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Here is another explanation I received from q_q_:
"
That , means the person immediately being referred to.
(by a finger if you're rude)
or the person under disucssion.
THE, is used if the name is not known, or if it is about tot be resolved by what is to be said. The culprit. That would imply they are known.
Could the person who put peanut butter under the door handle please stand up?
That person - I won't mention his name but you know who I am referring to.
You could say
in this situation, then describe it, and then say "in that situation", because you are referring to the situation just mentioned. The same situation.
Or you could point to another situation with a finger or hand gesture, or introduce another one, and refer after to "that", so it is understood that you are referring to a different one , which is the one just mentioned, and not the first one.
One might say
In this particular case, XYX
or
XYZ in that particular case.
This , means te thing you are about to introduce.
That, means the thing last mentioned, or the thing you are poitning to or gesturing towards or whatever.
pointing can be considered rude by the way.
so can tapping things and making discrete hand or eye gestures to alert people to something without others noticing.
But regular hand gestures are fine.
"
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You can also say I like the idea.
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You can also say I like the idea.
or that idea.
'cos if it's the one you are speaking about, or have been speaking about(and are still speaking about), then this and that refer to the same thing.
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Speaking of English since obama osama came on the seen and started using the word 'notion' all the people on T.V. forgot the word 'idea' and always use the word 'notion'