Demonstrative Pronouns: Don’t Lose Points Because of This, That, These, Those, It, They

hi welcome to write to the top I'm Adam in today's video I want to talk to you about a particular grammar point but it is very very important to the essay section of your IELTS TOEFL writing section and the reason it's very important is that even though it's a grammar point it can very much affect your cohesion and coherence score because it can be very confusing to a reader and many of you are making a mistake with this particular grammar point so what we're going to look at are the demonstrative pronouns that's this that these those it and they and I'm going to explain to you what their function is how to use them and then I'm going to show you how many people are making mistakes and how this can be confusing to the reader okay so I'm gonna start with the basics this in these singular and plural we talk about something that is near now if what we're talking when we're speaking we can say something is near we can point to it in writing it basically near basically means the previous sentence or something very closely associated with what you're writing in the next sentence right it could also be nearness in terms of time and we're going to I'll give you an example of that as well obviously that and those something a little bit distant or separated there's a little bit there's other things between the noun and the pronoun that you're using to replace it with or it could be some separation in terms of time and again you'll see an example now it and Vey technically these are subject pronouns we can use them as subjects in a sentence we can use all of these as subjects in a sentence but it and they are technically subject pronouns but they can also be used as demonstrative pronouns they can also stand in place of a noun mentioned before again very important the function of a demonstrative pronoun to point to previously mentioned things idea situations etc so as to avoid repeating them all of these words are pointing to something that was already mentioned before now in writing this could be very confusing if it's not clear but the pronoun is pointing to but you must use pronouns if you don't use pronouns that means you're repeating nouns you're repeating phrases you're repeating clauses when you don't need to and that's gonna affect your cohesion and coherence score okay so we're gonna look at some examples so you'll understand what I mean many schools nowadays include coding classes as part of each schools core curriculum in the belief that coding is an essential skill students need to master if students are to find success in the employment markets of the future that will certainly require their skill now that's a lot of stuff to say a lot of repetition as well many schools nowadays include coding plat classes as part of each schools core curricula curriculum so I have school I have school twice coding classes and I believe that coding so I have coding and coding again okay is an essential skill students need to master if students and students twice again or to find success da da da da in this skill so I have skill and skill so I have all these words being repeated and again technically this is not wrong there's no grammatically there's no problem with it in terms of reading it makes it very boring for a reader it makes it a little bit too many words and again if you're writing the IELTS or TOEFL this is going to cost you points because it shows the grader you don't have enough command of the language to avoid doing something like this that just isn't necessary now how would I fix this so let me get rid of all of you so you can see it many schools nowadays include coding classes as part of their curricula so there again I'm pointing to the schools now because I went with the plural there I have to change the curriculum to curricula make sure that your numbers match if you left this as curriculum then it doesn't agree with the pronoun which is a plural pronoun I forgot to mention is it may vary that's another pronoun I forgot to mention and the adjective in the belief that now this or it is an essential skill this coating or it coating both of these are okay you can use one or the other how will you choose well you'll see if you're using the other one somewhere else you don't want to use pronouns too much or too often either right so both of these are acceptable if essential skills students need to master if they they being students no need to say students twice use a pronoun success in the employment markets of the future that will certainly require it the skill now it has to be very clear that's the main thing in this particular sentence all the pronouns very clearly point to something like something very nearby so it's very easy to follow because everything is following the same thing if you think that they refers to anything other than then students you have a bit of a problem right in this case it's very clear because that's the last noun mentioned generally the pronoun will point back to the last noun mentioned in the lat and the sentence or in the phrase or in the clause but sometimes that doesn't work okay now another thing you have to remember that skill can't find success curricula can't find success only the students can find success so logically they can only refer to students but this is not always the case it's very important that it's very obvious what they're pointing to following the financial crisis are meeting this sample now following the financial crisis of the previous decade all banks were consequently subject to strict new regulations meant to prevent future abuses many of these failed over time now you're looking at the sentence and you're thinking okay yeah no problem but there is a problem what does these refer to what is it pointing at is it pointing to banks is it pointing to regulations or is it pointing to abuses I have three plural nouns preceding it in the in the sentence before so obviously I can't very easily think what these are that failed now I know it's not abuses because abuses they can't fail they don't match this verb so I take that out that still leaves me with banks or regulations banks can fail regulations can fail they can fail to do what they were meant to do what they were introduced to do so how would I fix this and when you have a situation where your your preposition your also your pronoun is meant to replace something if it's if there are two things and you want to be very clear just repeat still use the pronoun but repeat the noun so many of these banks failed over time okay the banks that I refer to so these banks are actually these banks all banks or these regulations are the ones that are meant to prevent it doesn't matter that if you're repeating it with the pronoun because then you're just emphasizing it's actually adding strength to your writing okay if you don't introduce them again you're asking the reader to make that assumption and never ask your reader to assume anything here's another one I'm gonna show you a couple of things here advertisers believe that the more consumer is exposed to a specific brand the more likely he or she is to develop a preference for that brand so here's that and then I have to use that because grande by itself if we say for our brand then you're talking about any brand I'm back to specifying that the same brand I'm talking about the one that has the exposure so I'm using that to emphasize now this is why or that is why now technically the correct one is this because I'm referring to the immediate thing the thing that is right near me in the previous sentence the correct pronoun here is this but many native English speakers often use that that is why doesn't matter the situation they always say that is why especially in spoken English this probably won't affect affect you too much in the writing of the IELTS are great or TOEFL graders won't really care just so you know this is correct that is common okay this is why it is nearly impossible and talk about the it here later to navigate to the real or cyber world without being constantly bombarded by ads now it is also why this is also why now this is the same as this this but because I already used this here I can go and use it here I've already established we're talking about the reasons for something I can use it the second time I can and I can use it or I can use this twice avoid using twice because it's just a little bit boring right if you can have other options use other options it is also why companies pay premium prices for commercials thoughts during high-profile events such as a Super Bowl such as the Super Bowl or World Cup when that is magnified now here's where a lot of people have a problem they're using that and they're using it correctly the problem is I don't know what that is now here we're talking about high exposure to something right and we're talking about magnified means made bigger but I don't know what that what is being magnified because you are obviously referring to the exposure here actually let me just switch colors here so you guys connect you're referring to the exposure here but this is way too far too many things in between too many things that that could point you between exposure and magnified so you have to reintroduce it when that exposure is magnified when you have a lot of separation between the nouns we introduce the noun so the reader doesn't have to try to figure out what you're talking about okay and this is a very common mistake in the writing section and you're going to lose points for that another example children's attitudes towards education can reflect many insights into their home lives among these are their parents on now here these you're asking what does these refer to is it attitudes or is it insights well let's read a little bit more among these are their parents own upbringing an education level these are not attitudes okay these are the things that we can learn by observing the children so it's obvious that they are insights I don't need to introduce it again especially since they're actually quite close to each other if it's very obvious no problem if it's not obvious reintroduce the noun that you're replacing the stitchers need to pay attention to their students approaches to homework now I could say they're only but again it's a good it's probably obvious that it's the student because it's the teachers but technically there could be teach other parents because I mentioned parents even though I didn't use it as a as a focus now and I'm not talking about the parents but again for a reader reading quickly this could be a little bit confusing better to just reintroduce the students but because there's a bit of a square as it there's a bit of a separation between the two nouns reintroduce it move on and here you see there there is obviously the students because we've already reintroduced it here if you have a law if you have a lot of stuff or if you have a quite a separation between the first noun and the pronoun use reintroduce and then go on with the pronouns again after that okay I hope that's a little bit clearer I know it could be confusing sometimes okay so now what we have sometimes is a big problem when you're starting a new paragraph now you have to remember that the reader when the reader starts a new paragraph he or she has already forgotten the details of the previous paragraph they're not thinking about it and if any noun that you want to reintroduce in the next paragraph you have to specifically say so let's say in the same essay the second paragraph beginning with on the other hand these may simply be as students on idiosyncrasies now it is very unclear what these refers to to the writer it's very obvious that it's the attitudes mentioned before but to the reader those attitudes that was in the first sentence of the last paragraph that's way out of their minds you need to bring that back on the other hand these attitudes may simply be the students own idiosyncrasies etc idiosyncrasies like stranger characteristics not strange just particular to them doesn't have to be changed now another very common problem don't confuse pronouns especially that with the relative pronoun that which begins an adjective clause or a noun clause etc the CEO is finally forced to admit that that was why he docked at the books that beginning the noun clause that is a pronoun pointing to something mentioned in the previous sentence you can use that that they have different meanings different functions don't get confused the auditor discovered the manipulation which is what led to the CEOs admission make sure that if you have a beginning an adjective clause you have the comma and you have which don't use that after a comma you start an adjective clause okay the auditor discovered that they discovered the manipulation that is what led to the CEOs admission so remember I mentioned you can have separation of time here I could use that instead of this even though it's in the previous sentence we're talking about the action which happened in the past before another action in the past way the auditor discovered the manipulation after the discovery it led to the CEOs admission so you have two actions separated by time and that's why I'm using that to reflect the separation be very careful with the subjunctive mood it is important that something happens it is important to do something this it and this it or both subjects subject pronouns their preparatory subject means whatever comes from that onwards or from two onwards is the subject we put it at the end we use it as a subject but a lot of people forget that it is important because as soon as you have because this is no longer a subjunctive this is an adverb clause and this is your independent clause so it is pointing to something if I don't know what that it is the whole sentence falls apart I'm confused you're losing points okay let's look at something last examples and we'll wrap it up so new teachers need to keep certain ideas in mind such as teacher-student relationships this is your first opening sentence let's look at the next sentence it is important that teachers have a good rapport with their students as this leads you no problem this it is preparatory subject your subject is that teachers have a good rapport is important subjunctive okay it is important for teachers to listen to their students so that they can maintain good relations in the classroom this it is also not a problem now some of you may think well what about they is this teachers or students okay how are you gonna fix that it is important for a teacher to listen to his or her students so that everyone can maintain we're excited just change the sentence make one singular make one curl and then use the appropriate pronoun to make sure there's no confusion now it is important because it creates a more harmonious and productive environment what is it there's nothing in this sentence that I can point to as it and therefore this sentence does not work the reader is confused you're losing points in your coherence and cohesion squad okay now if you have any questions about this I know there's a lot of information here maybe a bit confusing please ask me in the youtube comment section I'll be happy to answer if you liked the video please give me a like you subscribe to my channel and come back for more grammar writing vocab test tips lessons etc see you again soon bye bye

Channel: Write to the Top

Views: 19,611

Keywords: demonstrative pronouns, IELTS, English writing, English, writing, language test, English test, how to write, pass the IELTS, synonyms, IELTS high score, language skills, better writing, writing skills, how to write in English, IELTS high band, IELTS writing, IELTS band 7+, high band score, IELTS academic essay, independent task, independent essay, essay writing, cohesion & coherence, how to write an essay, band 9 essay, grammar, that, it, toefl, TOEFL HIGH SCORE

Id: aIPivpHnIBg

Length: 17min 18sec (1038 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 26 2018