Those Days or These Days

demonstrative determiners these those

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?

Showing Physical Distance

'These' and 'those' are plural forms of 'this' and 'that'. They are called demonstratives. The main job of a demonstrative is to show us the 'proximity' of a noun to the speaker, i.e. how near or far an item or a person is.

Have you read these books? Can I borrow them?

Those flowers smell great.

Showing Temporal Distance

Additionally, demonstratives can also show us the 'temporal distance'. By using demonstratives, we can point to a time period 'near' to the present or a time period that's 'far' from now (in the past or in the future).

I hope one day we can sit around and laugh about these days.

Here, 'these' shows that the speaker is talking about the days they are currently experiencing.

I still remember those good old days when we were still young.

Here, 'those' shows that the speaker is talking about the days in the past. He is now reminiscing about them.

'One of Those Days' or 'One of These Days'

You might have heard the expression of 'one of those days' or 'one of these days'. Here, 'these' and 'those' do not necessarily mean a time in the past, present or future. They both have idiomatic meanings. Look at these examples:

I was having one of those days, you know. My car broke down, I missed my appointment and I had a fight with Dan.

'One of those days' mean 'a particular day when a lot of things go wrong'. It basically means 'a very bad day'.

One of these days, I'm going to stand up for myself and tell them how I really feel.

'One of these days' means 'at some time in the future', we don't know when, it can be in two days or it can be in two years.

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