Premium|Mobile App|Dictionary

Langeek

EN
Leaderboard
Night Mode
Learnchevron
Mobile AppPremiumDictionary
profileLogin

Them vs. These or Those 

demonstrative determinersdemonstrative pronounsobject pronounsthemthesethose
"Them" vs. "These" or "Those" in the English Grammar

Demonstratives

'These' and 'those' are called demonstratives. They are used to show the 'distance' or 'nearness' between us and the noun.
'These' is the plural form of 'this'. And the plural form of 'that' is 'those'.

Difference between 'These' and 'Those'

These is used to refer to a plural noun near to us (physically or temporally)

Those is used to refer to a plural noun far from us (physically or temporally)

'These' and 'those' can be both subjects and objects of our sentence.

Example

These are my kids.

Here, 'these' is the subject of our sentence.

I've made my decision. Let's buy these for her! She'll look great in these shoes.

Here, 'these' is the object of our sentence.

Those were the days we thought they'd never end.

Here, 'those' is the subject of our sentence.

Do you remember those?

Here, 'those' is the object of our sentence.

Can 'Them' Be Used as a Demonstrative Pronoun?

'Them' is an object pronoun. It is the accusative form of the pronoun 'they'. In formal standard English, 'them' cannot be used as a substitute for a demonstrative pronoun. But when 'these' and 'those' are used as an object pronoun, it is interchangeable in informal and colloquial language.

Example

Some of those can be considered appropriate for the occasion.

Some of them can be considered appropriate for the occasion.

'Them' cannot grammatically be used as a demonstrative pronoun. But it is often used in informal language.

Comments

(0)
Loading Recaptcha...
Share on :
books
Learn English VocabularyStart learning categorized English vocabulary on Langeek.
Click to start

Recommended

bookmark

That vs. Those

'That' and 'those' are both demonstratives. They point to a specific noun in a sentence. Here we will briefly look at their similarities and differences.
bookmark

That vs. Who or Whom

'Who', 'whom', and 'that' are all relative pronouns. Two of them are used as a subject and one of them is the object. If you want to which is which, read this!
bookmark

These vs. Those

These/those are the plural forms of this/that. They're called demonstratives. We use them to identify specific persons or things close to or far from us.
bookmark

Those Days or These Days

What is the correct choice, 'one of these days' or 'one of those days'? Are they both correct but mean the same thing? Or Do they have different meanings?
bookmark

One and Ones

'One' and 'ones' are impersonal pronouns in English. They're used in place of previously mentioned nouns to avoid repetition.
bookmark

One vs. You

If we want to talk about people in general, can we say, 'You must be responsible toward the environment' or 'one must be responsible toward the environment?'
LanGeek
Download LanGeek app