Demonstrative pronouns (this, these, that, and those) substitute for nouns. This and that are used for singular nouns and these and those for plural nouns. The antecedent of a demonstrative pronoun must either be the last noun of the preceding sentence—not the idea of the sentence—or be clearly identified within the same sentence, as in the following examples.

This is the itinerary for my vacation. These are the places where we will stay. That was a picture of the Grand Canyon . Those were the mules we rode to the bottom.

Do not use the pronouns this and that to refer to a whole sentence or to an abstract thought. (See also pronoun reference.) One way to avoid this problem is to insert a noun immediately after the demonstrative pronoun, thus turning it into a demonstrative adjective.

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