Questions tagged [deixis]
The deixis tag has no usage guidance.
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Using the indefinite article after a demonstrative pronoun
Why in the sentence
This is a great party!
use the indefinite article a rather than the definite article the? After all, the demonstrative pronoun This indicates that the conversation is about a ...
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Are there more relative directions?
6 common relative directions are front, back, left, right, up, and down. Are there single word names for relative directions between those 6 directions (as in another word for a direction between ...
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If left / right is laterality what is front / rear?
I want to write something like this:
Something can be differentiated by laterality [i.e. left - right dimension], by ___ [front - rear dimension], and also by the interaction between laterality and ...
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What is the difference between "this" and "that" in "How much is this/that watch"?
I am studying English and I would like to know the difference about "this" and "that" at this phrase translating to Portuguese.
In the image, the subject held the watch and said &...
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Hypernym for words that refer to a specific point in time like now, today, tomorrow, and yesterday
Second, minute, hour, ... all fall under 'duration'
But when you want to refer to a specific point in time, like 'now' or 'yesterday' (many languages go way further and have single words for 'next/...
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When you call someone, do you say "Is this Mr Smith?" or "Is that Mr Smith?" when that person picks up? [duplicate]
I feel it should be this since am talking to the very same person, but for some reason I see some people saying “Is that XYZ?”
What are your thoughts about this bit of phone etiquette?
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Can 'this', as in 'this day' or 'on this day' be used for future reference?
I have recently stumbled upon this sentence:
5th June is perfect. Do you think you can come this day?
The time frame of the utterance was more than two weeks before the date mentioned. And I am ...
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Time of orientation and deictic time
I am confused about the difference between To and Td in *CGEL's analysis of tense on page 126. Does Td shift to the moment of decoding as To does in the second example?
1- I am writing this letter ...
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We Indians often say "I finished my homework today itself", which I know is wrong. Which is the correct way to say it?
We use 'itself' to emphasize that the homework was done today, not yesterday. Nor was it delayed till tomorrow. What is the correct way to emphasize the fact that the homework was done today?
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Deictic or not?
Can these three italicized pronouns (line 2, 7 and 10): that's, he and them be classified as Deictic? Proximal and anaphoric respectively.
“He was looking for some one else, you say – some one who ...
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"That's who he was working for" - grammatical dissection
In the sentence, "that's who he was looking for", how would you classify the contraction that's? How is the sentence grammatically dissected? Four words into the sentence, the reader is presented ...
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Is it correct to say: These are not homework? [duplicate]
A teacher sent home a list of assignments with a cover letter explaining, "These are not homework."
"This is not homework," or "These pages are not homework," sound equally normal to me, but "These ...
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What is blocking a deictic use of 'it' in this example?
Consider the following exchange:
[1] Q: Is your name Jane?
Aa: *Yes, it's right.
Ab: Yes, that's right.
Note that [1Aa] is simply not ...
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Can I use "here" when I am not physically in a place? [closed]
Let's say I am on a trip (in France) and I am telling a story, in some place from this history I say:
I lived in Alabama for about a year and worked as a musician but last year I moved to New York; ...
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How to identify "deictic center" for distinguishing "come" & "go"?
Read this paragraph from this site
My question is:
How to identify "deictic center" for distinguishing "come" & "go"?
Let say I am at home & I say "I am going to the zoo this evening", so ...
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Is it I'm coming or going as I promised? [closed]
I'm not sure which one to use: I'm "coming" or "going" as I promised.
And why would I use that specific word instead of the other?
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What's the Subject in: 'And up here in the corner is me'
If two people are looking at a photo, and one of them pointing out the different people says:
And up here in the corner is me.
... what is the Subject of the sentence?
The phrase up here in the ...
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What do you call a word whose meaning changes according to when or where it is said?
I remember learning a specific name for words whose meaning depends on the time or location of their use, but as this was when I was in middle school (about 10 years ago), I can't remember what ...
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On the part of speech of "now"
I recently had a conversation about the Spanish word "ahora", in which my conversant claimed that "ahora" is always an adverb, and never a noun.
This lead me to investigate the part of speech of ...
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Can "here" be an adjective? [duplicate]
This book here is the one I was talking about.
My brother here just bought a new car.
The two examples above have here following a noun. Most dictionaries say "here" is an adverb. I am ...
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Do other ‘suffixes’ besides “‑ere/‑ence/‑ither” exist for composing locative and directional ‘adverbs’ like “here/hither/hence”?
Years ago reading J R R Tolkien’s Silmarillion, I learned the delightful
suffixes ‑ence and ‑ither used in this threefold set of paired words
with these meanings:
hence: from this nearby place
...
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How to Pronounce "Deictic"
I'm going to be talking about demonstrative pronouns, and I need to say "deictic" aloud. Looking at several dictionaries, I have three options for pronouncing the word: (1) 'dīk-tik (IPA: [ˈdaɪktɪk]), ...
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"This month" vs. "next month" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Which day does “next Tuesday” refer to?
If it is November, how do you refer to the upcoming July? Is it "this July" or "next July"?
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"Right" and "Left" and "Top" and "Bottom"
We normally say to my right and to my left.
If something is located to my top or bottom how would I say that? Say, I am lying on the floor, to my right there is a wall, to my left there is a desk* ...
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Do "that" and "it" refer to different things in this sentence?
He likes going to the library
to study. That always makes her happy.
What if the last sentence were to be changed to
It always makes her happy.
Do these two sentences mean something different? ...
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Is "yesterday" a noun, an adjective or an adverb?
Are words like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" considered nouns, adjectives, or even adverbs? I'm getting mixed signals from several references.
In a case like "I have an important meeting tomorrow," it ...
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Difference between "the" and "that"
I wonder what the difference between the and that in this context is:
A: Hey, I've heard we have a new printer.
B: Really? Let's print the documents on the/that new printer then.
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"Do it" versus "do that"
Are there any sentences where do that is preferable over do it?
The New Oxford American Dictionary reports when a phrase is informal; it doesn't do that in this case.
The New Oxford American ...
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