When we call a person this or that

Question

Given the examples:(1)She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross. (2)"Snape?" "Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it." When you call a person ‘this’ or ‘that’ like above, doesn’t it give any nuance that you call the person rudely or indiscreetly?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Given the examples:

(1)
She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

(2)
"Snape?"
"Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Here, 'that' does not refer to Snape. It refers to some incident or situation mentioned earlier in the context.

When you call a person ‘this’ or ‘that’ like above, doesn’t it give any nuance that you call the person rudely or indiscreetly?
It depends on the context.
There is nothing negative about saying
eg Tom, this is Mary,
eg That's my boss, standing over there.

Clive

Eipjoo · Answer

CliveHere, 'that' does not refer to Snape. It refers to some incident or situation mentioned earlier in the context.

I can't find anything that you say in the book. And I think 'that' is Snape. I upload some of this book, if you find what that is, would you let me know?

[Harry Potter book 1]
When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut an hour later, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called "Who is it?" before he let them in, and then shut the door quickly behind them.
It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a blazing fire in the grate. Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.
"So -- yeh wanted to ask me somethin'?"
"Yes," said Harry. There was no point beating around the bush. "We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy."
Hagrid frowned at him.
"0' course I can't, he said. "Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It Was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."
"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on round here," said Hermione in a warm, flattering voice. Hagrid's beard twitched and they could tell he was smiling. "We only wondered who had done the guarding, really." Hermione went on. "We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."
Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione.
"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout -- Professor Flitwick -- Professor McGonagall --" he ticked them off on his fingers, "Professor Quirrell -- an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."
"Snape?"
"Yeah -- yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

Khoff · Answer

"That" does not refer directly to Snape.  It refers to Harry's suspicions about Snape.  If it meant Snape, it would be "him," not "that."

Eipjoo · Answer

Thank you very much.

When we call a person this or that

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