Understanding Demonstrative Determiners

Determiners are words that come before a noun to specify its quantity or to clarify what the noun refers to. There are different types of determiners, such as articles (a, an, the), possessive determiners (my, your, his, her, its, our, their), quantitative determiners (some, many, few), and demonstrative determiners.

Demonstrative determiners are used to point to specific things. They are words like this, that, these, and those. They are used directly before a noun to indicate whether the noun is singular or plural, and whether it is near or far from the speaker.

• This: Used for singular nouns near the speaker. (e.g., this book)
• That: Used for singular nouns far from the speaker. (e.g., that car)
• These: Used for plural nouns near the speaker. (e.g., these apples)
• Those: Used for plural nouns far from the speaker. (e.g., those birds)

Analyzing the Given Options for Demonstrative Determiner

Let's look at the words provided in the options and determine which one fits the description of a demonstrative determiner:

• their: This is a possessive determiner. It shows ownership or possession (e.g., their house). It is not a demonstrative determiner.
• those: This word is used to point to specific plural nouns that are far away (e.g., those flowers). When used directly before a noun or when the noun is clearly implied, it functions as a demonstrative determiner. For example, in "Look at those birds," "those" is a demonstrative determiner modifying "birds". Even if used alone like "Those are pretty," "those" acts as a demonstrative pronoun, but it originates from the demonstrative category and can function as a determiner. Among the choices, this is the only word from the demonstrative category.
• them: This is a personal pronoun, specifically an object pronoun (e.g., I saw them). It replaces a noun and does not function as a determiner before a noun.
• an: This is an indefinite article, which is a type of determiner, but it is not a demonstrative determiner. Articles (a, an, the) specify whether a noun is general or specific, but they don't point to location like demonstratives do.

Comparing the options to the definition of a demonstrative determiner, the word those is the only one that belongs to this category and can function as a demonstrative determiner before a noun.