These and Those....

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Alpha
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:56 pm
Alpha says... · Tue Apr 19, 2011 4:56 pm
This is actually a question, and I'd appreciate any answers, anything at all.
What is the difference between 'these' and 'those'?
When do we use each of them?

Thanks a lot, contributers.
Cheers,
Alpha
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niteowl
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Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:10 pm
niteowl says... · Tue Apr 19, 2011 6:10 pm
From my understanding, "these" refers to things close to the speaker, eg if I had a plate of cookies and was offering them to you, I might say "Would you like some of these cookies?" If said cookies were across the room on a table, I might say "Could you get some of those cookies for me, please?"

Distance could also be in time as well. Once the cookies are all gone, I'd say "Those cookies were delicious".

Hope that helps!
"You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand." Leonardo Da Vinci

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I say Wolf, for all wolves are not of the same sort; there is one kind with an amenable disposition – neither noisy, nor hateful, nor angry, but tame, obliging and gentle, following the young maids in the streets, even into their homes. Alas! Who does not know that these gentle wolves are of all such creatures the most dangerous!
— Charles Perrault