Difference between Demonstrative Pronoun and Demonstrative Adjective

Demonstrative pronoun and demonstrative adjective both sound identical and both modify the noun, but in a different way. The main difference between a demonstrative pronoun and a demonstrative adjective is that a demonstrative pronoun can stand alone, whereas a demonstrative adjective is followed by the noun. Let us understand the demonstrative pronoun and adjective in detail.

Demonstrative Pronoun

A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that represents something, which is already mentioned. It is used to indicate something important in a sentence. These types of pronouns can be either plural or singular that points out items in distance or time. Suppose a thing or many things are represented in a sentence, so the demonstrative pronoun will be either far or near in distance or time. For near in distance or time – words like ‘this’ or ‘these’ will be used and for far in distance or time – words like ‘that’ or ‘those’ will be used.

•    A demonstrative pronoun will always identify a noun. It is used in place of a noun.

•    A demonstrative pronoun is primarily used to explain a thing, place or an animal. Besides, it is also used to describe a person who is identified.

Examples:

•    This is my house. (Singular)

•    Could you give me that? (Singular)

•    These are my favorites. (Plural)

•    Those belong to Cathy. (Plural)

Demonstrative Adjective

A demonstrative adjective is an adjective that is used to identify or demonstrate specific things, animals or people. The adjectives that modify nouns are ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘those’ and ‘these’. These words come before the nouns in the sentence. Like demonstrative pronoun, the demonstrative adjective also uses ‘this’ and ‘that’ for singular nouns and ‘these’ and ‘those’ for plural nouns.

•    A demonstrative adjective is useful when you want to make it clear which noun (place, person or thing) you would like to describe.

•    A demonstrative adjective identify the words omitted in a sentence or highlight their importance.

Examples:

This is the best gift of my life. (Singular)

That dress is so classy. (Singular)

Those earrings suit me very well. (Plural)

These books contain interesting stories. (Plural)

From above mentioned points, it is proved that demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives use the same words (this, that, those, these) to modify nouns. However, the difference between these two is that demonstrative pronouns come before a verb or these stand alone. On the other hand, demonstrative adjectives always appear before a noun.