demonstrative as an adjectives.

Hi, I still don't get the complete picture about that, those, this, these when

used as adjectives. Where is the descriptive word in that? Example,

This beach was empty last Summer.

I don't get that " this" is an adjective and agree in number with the noun

here.


Could someone explain more? Thanks

They describe locations, more or less, in relation to the speaker. They can be actual physical location, or what you might call mental location, that is something your mental focus is on ("this") versus something your mental focus is not on ("that"). If you're standing next to a car, for example, you might say "this car is a Ford", pointing to it. If a car is, say, 50 meters away, you would say "That car is a Lexus". It's physically distant, so even tho you're mentally focussed on it you'd still probably describe it as "that car".

If I were to describe the topic we're currently on, the one we're focussing on, I'd say, "This topic is in the English section".

No, Navigator is correct... it is a demonstrative adjective. It would be a demonstrative pronoun if "this" were being used as a substitution for some previously mentioned noun ("This was empty last summer.") But in Navigator's sentence, "this" is serving to modify "beach," so it is indeed a demonstrative adjective.

Navigator: in addition to Username's explanation, you should also note that "this" is the singular form of "these", while "that" is the singular form of "those."

This beach was empty last summer.
These beaches were empty last summer.

That beach was empty last summer.
Those beaches were empty last summer.

I still don't get it why we say about them adjectives in some sentences, though I don't see them describe anything.