THIS (pronoun) – English Grammar Profiler

This is one of the most important documents in history.

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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 conclusion, even 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