Demonstrative adjectives are words which "point to" nouns and pronouns in order to distinguish them from each other in proximity or distance, number and grouping, or order in a sequence.
Distinguishing by proximity
- this or that
- these or those
- yon and yonder
Distinguishing by number and grouping
- both, either, or neither
- one, another, or the rest
- one, few, some, any, many, all, every, or none
Distinguishing by order in sequence
- former or latter
- the first, the second, the third, etc.
- first, next, or last
Demonstrative adjectives can also occur in the capacity of a question, such as "which" in the question, "Which coat should I wear?" In this question, "which" can be answered by any demonstrative adjective, such as "Wear this coat!" Due to the ability to directly substitute "which" for a demonstrative adjective, we know it is also a demonstrative adjective, as - after accounting for necessary agreement of number and word order - any demonstrative adjective may be grammatically correctly substituted with any other demonstrative adjective.
Iron Noder 2018, 29/30