Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

This, that

This

is used to signal that an entity is a new or important topic in a text, or to refer to entities

which the writer wishes to highlight or closely identify with:

If there is something that you particularly like that is fortified with vitamins you could

try writing to the manufacturer and asking where they’ve come from. 

This not only helps

you, it also lets the manufacturer know that people do care about what they’re eating.

That

highlights entities less emphatically than this, and is often used to refer to facts,

assertions, etc. which are of temporary interest but which are not major topics in the text.

There is often a sense that the writer wishes to indicate a distance from the proposition or

entity referred to:

Then, feeling rather foolish, he turned and hurried away down the drive. 

That was a

hopeless beginning, he thought, as he returned to the house. 

246 | Grammar across turns and sentences

Cambridge Grammar of English

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That

is also frequently used to refer to events and entities remote in time and space, or to

ideas and propositions associated with another person or another participant in the

discourse:

When I left that place, I realized there was something I could do about it – I could make

sure I didn’t eat those pigs or those hens or any animals. I also decided there and then to

work to end this exploitation. 

That was a few years ago but my feelings haven’t changed

one bit. 

After a while Norrie suggested his brother, Alan Paramor, the music publisher, should

help look after me. 

That seemed fine to us.