THIS


Meaning of THIS in English

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.

You use ~ to refer back to a particular person or thing that has been mentioned or implied.

When food comes out of any oven, it should stand a while. During ~ delay the centre carries on cooking...

On 1 October the US suspended a proposed $574 million aid package for 1991. Of ~ amount, $250 million is for military purchases.

DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount

This is also a pronoun.

I don’t know how bad the injury is, because I have never had one like ~ before.

PRON

2.

You use ~ to introduce someone or something that you are going to talk about.

This is what I will do. I will telephone Anna and explain.

PRON

This is also a determiner.

This report is from David Cook of our Science Unit: ‘Why did the dinosaurs become extinct?’

DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount

3.

You use ~ to refer back to an idea or situation expressed in a previous sentence or sentences.

You feel that it’s uneconomic to insist that people work together in groups. Why is ~?...

PRON

This is also a determiner.

There have been continual demands for action by the political authorities to put an end to ~ situation.

DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount

4.

In spoken English, people use ~ to introduce a person or thing into a story.

I came here by chance and was just watching what was going on, when ~ girl attacked me...

DET: DET sing-n

5.

You use ~ to refer to a person or thing that is near you, especially when you touch them or point to them. When there are two or more people or things near you, ~ refers to the nearest one.

‘If you’d prefer something else I’ll gladly have it changed for you.’—‘No, ~ is great.’...

‘Is ~ what you were looking for?’ Bradley produced the handkerchief...

PRON

This is also a determiner.

This church was built in the eleventh century.

DET: DET sing-n

6.

You use ~ when you refer to a general situation, activity, or event which is happening or has just happened and which you feel involved in.

I thought, ~ is why I’ve travelled thousands of miles...

Tim, ~ is awful. I know what you must think, but it’s not so...

PRON: PRON with be

7.

You use ~ when you refer to the place you are in now or to the present time.

We’ve stopped transporting weapons to ~ country by train...

I think coffee is probably the best thing at ~ point...

DET: DET sing-n/n-uncount

This is also a pronoun.

This is the worst place I’ve come across...

PRON

8.

You use ~ to refer to the next occurrence in the future of a particular day, month, season, or festival.

We’re getting married ~ June...

DET: DET sing-n

9.

You use ~ when you are indicating the size or shape of something with your hands.

They’d said the wound was only about ~ big you see and he showed me with his fingers.

ADV: ADV adj

10.

You use ~ when you are going to specify how much you know or how much you can tell someone.

I am not going to reveal what my seven-year plan is, but I will tell you ~ much, if it works out, the next seven years will be very interesting.

ADV: ADV adv

11.

If you say ~ is it, you are agreeing with what someone else has just said.

‘You know, people conveniently forget the things they say.’—‘Well ~ is it.’

CONVENTION formulae

12.

You use ~ in order to say who you are or what organization you are representing, when you are speaking on the telephone, radio, or television.

Hello, ~ is John Thompson...

PRON

13.

You use ~ to refer to the medium of communication that you are using at the time of speaking or writing.

What I’m going to do in ~ lecture is focus on something very specific...

DET: DET sing-n

14.

see also these

15.

If you say that you are doing or talking about ~ and that, or ~, that, and the other you mean that you are doing or talking about a variety of things that you do not want to specify.

‘And what are you doing now?’—‘Oh ~ and that.’

PHRASE

Collins COBUILD.      Толковый словарь английского языка для изучающих язык Коллинз COBUILD (международная база данных языков Бирмингемского университета) .