THIS (pronoun)

This is one of the most important documents in history.

listen

Demonstrating Proximity: The word “this” is commonly used to indicate objects or ideas that are physically close to the speaker or writer. In sentence above, it refers to a specific document that is being discussed. Essentially, it points to something nearby or within immediate reach.


Profiling Research

Here are a few English Grammar Profile points in the category of PRONOUNS/demonstratives which are hard to locate manually in corpora:

A2 point 10:

‘this’ to refer to something that is happening now.

  • This is the best holiday I have ever had!”
  • This is just a short note to ask you if you want to go…”

A2 point 36:

‘this’ as a pronoun with singular reference.

B1 point 41:

‘this’ as a pronoun to refer back to whole clauses or sentences, especially to highlight or continue an important topic.


Corpus Research

If we look at what is to the right 4 spaces on iWeb corpus:

this * * * * (but remember we are looking for a pronoun, not a determiner before a noun.)

1 THIS IS ONE OF THE 109499

2 THIS IS THE FIRST TIME 42539
3 THIS IS GOING TO BE 30186
4 THIS IS THE CASE , 23010 (‘case’ is A2 as a container, but B2 as a true situation)
5 THIS IS NOT THE CASE 21939


6 THIS IS A GREAT WAY

PELIC STUDENT example:

Some activists try to persuade people to change their attitudes in relation to animals. 

I think that this is a great way to start to figure out the way in which animals are like human beings.

Spanish, Male, level 5, grammar class

*In this example, our grammar is hidden behind other A2 grammar.


7 THIS IS DUE TO THE 19094
8 THIS IS ONE OF THOSE 18985
9 THIS WILL ALLOW YOU TO 17802
10 THIS. 17351

11 THIS YEAR. THE 15947 (before a noun “this” is not a pronoun.)

12 THIS TIME OF YEAR. 15640
13 THIS WAS ONE OF THE 14375
14 THIS IS ONE OF MY 14169
15 THIS IS THE KIND OF 14066


16 THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT

In conclusioneven if people have a professional career, 

this does not mean that they can find opportunities easily.

Spanish, Female, level 5, grammar class


17 THIS YEAR.” 13796
18 THIS TIME OF YEAR, 13551

19 THIS IS NOT TO SAY 13293
20 THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME 13122
21 THIS, OF COURSE, 12273

22 THIS ENTRY WAS POSTED ON 12273

23 THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY 11824

24 THIS YEAR. 11178

25 THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF 10249
26 THIS IS NOT THE FIRST 10020

27 THIS IS BY FAR THE 9834

28 THIS CAN BE DONE BY 9831

29 THIS COURSE IS DESIGNED TO 9783
30 THIS TIME OF THE YEAR 9155

31 THIS MEANS THAT YOU CAN 8891
32 THIS USEFUL POST : 8817 (determiner)
33 THIS IS PART OF THE 8493
34 THIS IS WHY IT IS 8379
35 THIS , IN TURN , 8307
36 THIS WAY , YOU CAN 8206

37 THIS MEANS THAT IF YOU 8192

38 THIS WEBSITE , YOU CONSENT 8183
39 THIS IS THE PLACE TO 8075
40 THIS IS THE ONLY WAY 7971
41 THIS WOULD BE A GREAT 7819
42 THIS YEAR . ” 7724
43 THIS WILL GIVE YOU A 7607
44 THIS IS MY FIRST TIME 7566
45 THIS IS THE REASON WHY 7462

46 THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE FOR 7436

47 THIS IS N’T THE FIRST 7373
48 THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO 7339
49 THIS WILL BE THE FIRST 7241
50 THIS IS THE SECOND TIME 7180
51 THIS WEEK . THE 7123
52 THIS DAY AND AGE , 7028
53 THIS IS THE BEST WAY 6996
54 THIS IS THE TYPE OF 6959
55 THIS IS A GOOD THING 6865
56 THIS WAS GOING TO BE 6699
57 THIS WOULD BE A GOOD 6679
58 THIS ARTICLE , WE WILL 6511
59 THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT 6472
60 THIS IS A VERY GOOD 6462
61 THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO 6450
62 THIS IS A GREAT PLACE 6289
63 THIS PART OF THE WORLD 6272
64 THIS IS THE STORY OF 6271
65 THIS IS THE MOST COMMON 6232
66 THIS IS JUST ONE OF 6190

67 THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE IF 5976

68 THIS SEEMS TO BE A 5959
69 THIS DOES N’T MEAN THAT 5943
70 THIS IS THE CASE . 5943
71 THIS SECTION . ( 5881
72 THIS MAY NOT BE THE 5773
73 THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME 5757
74 THIS EMAIL ADDRESS IS BEING 5578
75 THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT 5532
76 THIS WEEK . ” 5513

77 THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST 5501

78 THIS SEASON . ” 5326
79 THIS CAN BE USED TO 5315
80 THIS IS MORE OF A 5300
81 THIS IS BECAUSE OF THE 5291
82 THIS IS A GOOD TIME 5239
83 THIS IS THE TIME TO 5219
84 THIS HAS TO DO WITH 5120
85 THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN 5118
86 THIS IS THE FIRST OF 5100
87 THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING 5076
88 THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO 5002
89 THIS COPY IS FOR YOUR 4972(determiner)
90 THIS IS SIMILAR TO THE 4934
91 THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I 4907
92 THIS SEEMS TO BE THE 4892
93 THIS MAY SEEM LIKE A 4881

94 THIS REASON , IT IS 4863

95 THIS MAY BE DUE TO 4847
96 THIS SEASON . THE 4822
97 THIS TIME AROUND . 4803
98 THIS IS MY FIRST POST 4744
99 THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE 4720

100 THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHEN 4711


This is the A2 vocabulary found to the right:

around, by, case, copy, especially, exactly, far, if, just, mean, means,

most, nothing, post, posted, probably, reason, story, true, turn, type, useful, way

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