Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate words.
____ is a pencil and ___ are pens.
a- This/that
b- That/these
c- These/those
d- That/this
e- Those/those

Answer 1

Hint:Demonstrative pronouns are used to indicate certain or specific things or people. They demonstrate things on the basis of distance. For example- Near and Far.

Complete answer:
As given in the hint, there are four types of demonstrative pronouns on the basis of distance/time -
1. Near- There are two types of demonstrative pronouns that are near in distance or time.

This- It is used to indicate singular nouns that are near in distance or in time. For example- This is a book.

These- It is used to indicate plural nouns that are near in distance or in time. For example- These are my books.

2. Far- There are two types of demonstrative pronouns that are far in distance or time.

That- It is used to indicate singular nouns that are far in distance or in time. For example- That is your car.

Those- It is used to indicate plural nouns that are far in distance or in time. For example- Those are my cats.

In the given question- We can see the use of two nouns, ‘pencil’ and ‘pens’. Hence, we need to use a singular demonstrative pronoun with ‘pencil’ and a plural demonstrative pronoun with ‘pens’.
Now, let’s examine the given options-
Option a- ‘This/that’ is an incorrect option, because both ‘this’ and ‘that’ are used with singular nouns.
Option b- ‘That/these’ is the correct option, because ‘that’ is used with singular nouns and ‘these’ is used with plural nouns.
Option c- ‘These/those’ is an incorrect option, because both ‘these’ and ‘those’ are used with plural nouns.
Option d- ‘That/this’ is an incorrect option, because both ‘that’ and ‘this’ are used with singular nouns.
Option e- ‘Those/those’ is an incorrect option, because ‘those’ is used with plural nouns.
The correct answer is Option ‘b’.

Note:
Keep in mind, both demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives are similar, but demonstrative pronouns can stand-alone, whereas demonstrative adjectives precede a noun.