Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jaymeiyan]

Dear teachers,

I always feel confused about the usage of "this" and "that".

As I know, in terms of physical distance, I can say the one who/which is next to me as like "This is my friend, Julie.", while for the one who/which is a bit far away as like "That is my dad's car".

But how about the following? Should I use "this" or "that"?

Mary will come to visit us in May. I am really looking forward to this/that


Thank you and hope to get your reply soon=]

Meiyan

[redset]

You can kind of think of time in the same way, this can be used to talk about things which are close in time (like 'this week'), and that for things which are more distant in the future or the past ("I was on holiday that week", "I'm not going to be available that afternoon").

That's not what you're talking about though In your example you can use either, although this still has more of an immediate feeling (like being served a meal and saying "I'm going to enjoy this!"), and it sometimes implies you're going to talk more about the subject ("I am really looking forward to this, we're going to take her camping!").

These are subtle differences though and really either works fine.

[jaymeiyan]

Thank you, redset!!
It really helps a lot


Best wishes,
Meiyan

[redset]

No problem, thanks!