How Here, There, This, That, Now and Then Anchor Meaning to a Point of View

Some English words do not carry their full meaning by themselves.

If someone says, “Put this here now,” the listener needs more than vocabulary. They need to know who is speaking, what the speaker is pointing to, where the speaker is standing and when the instruction is given.

Deixis is the way language points outward from words to a speaker’s position in person, place, time and discourse.

Quick Read

I and you depend on who is speaking. Here and there depend on location. Now, today and then depend on time. This and that can mark physical, psychological or discourse distance. Strong readers continually reconstruct these anchors instead of treating deictic words as fixed labels.

Speaker → place → time → point of reference → meaning.

One-Sentence Answer

Deictic words tell readers where meaning is being measured from, so changing the speaker, place or time can change what the same words refer to.

The Developmental Route

Stage	Deictic control is becoming
Lower Primary	Understanding I/you, here/there and this/that in immediate situations
Middle Primary	Tracking references across dialogue and simple narratives
Upper Primary	Managing shifts between speaker, narrator, character and reported speech
Secondary	Interpreting deictic viewpoint, psychological distance, temporal anchoring, discourse reference and rhetorical positioning across complex texts

Person Deixis Begins With I and You

I will call you tomorrow.

The word I refers to whoever is speaking. You refers to the person or people being addressed.

If a different person says the same sentence, the referents change even though the words remain identical.

Pronouns Can Shift When Speech Is Reported

Direct speech:

Maya said, “I will help you.”

Reported speech:

Maya said that she would help him.

The grammatical forms change because the centre of reference moves from Maya’s original speaking moment to the reporter’s sentence.

See How Direct and Reported Speech Change Distance, Certainty and Responsibility.

Place Deixis Builds Near and Far

Come here.
Put it over there.

Here normally points toward the speaker’s location or a location treated as close. There points away from that centre.

But the distinction can be flexible. A speaker may treat a familiar place as “here” even when speaking by phone, or adopt another person’s perspective deliberately.

This and That Can Mark Physical Distance

This book is mine.
That book belongs to Daniel.

The contrast often maps onto proximity: this nearer, that farther.

Yet physical distance is only one possibility.

This and That Can Mark Psychological Distance

I cannot accept that attitude.

The attitude is not physically far away. That can create interpersonal or evaluative distance.

By contrast, this problem may bring an issue into immediate focus.

This connects to How Articles and Determiners Control Specificity, Shared Knowledge and Reference.

Time Deixis Anchors Events to a Speaking Moment

I need the report now.
We met yesterday.
I will call tomorrow.

These words are interpreted relative to a temporal centre.

If the sentence is read months later, tomorrow no longer points to the reader’s tomorrow. It points to the day after the original speaking or writing moment.

Then Can Point Away From Now

I was living in Sengkang then.

Then identifies a time already established in the discourse rather than the current speaking moment.

Strong readers therefore search backward for the temporal anchor.

Reported Speech Often Shifts Temporal Deixis

Direct:

“I will finish this tomorrow.”

Reported later:

She said she would finish it the next day.

The time expression changes because the reporting moment is different from the original one.

Narrative Viewpoint Creates a Deictic Centre

In narrative, readers often experience space and time through a character or narrator.

Beyond that door was the room she had avoided for years. Now she had no choice but to enter.

That and now position the reader relative to the character’s present experience.

See How Narrator Perspective Limits What the Reader Can Know.

Deixis Can Reveal Alignment With a Group

We need to protect our community.

Who is included in we?

The pronoun can invite solidarity, define an in-group, or leave membership deliberately vague.

A strong reader asks whether we includes the writer, reader, institution, nation, family or some other group.

Inclusive and Exclusive We Can Produce Different Effects

English does not grammatically mark the distinction, so context must do the work.

We should revise this policy.

Does the speaker mean “you and I”, “my organisation”, or a broader public? The answer changes responsibility and audience positioning.

Discourse Deixis Points to Parts of the Text Itself

This shows why the first explanation is incomplete.

What does this refer to?

It may point to the previous sentence, a whole paragraph, an example or an argument just developed.

If the referent is unclear, cohesion weakens.

Deictic Ambiguity Can Make a Sentence Unstable

Put it there after that.

Without visible context, neither reference is recoverable.

In face-to-face interaction, pointing may solve the problem. In writing, the writer must often replace deictic shorthand with explicit nouns or time expressions.

See How Students Detect Ambiguity and Repair Unclear Meaning.

Deixis and Register Interact

Conversational language can rely heavily on shared surroundings:

Can you put that over there?

Formal writing usually needs more explicit reference because writer and reader may not share the same physical environment.

Deictic Words Can Be Persuasive

Now is the time to act.
This is the choice before us.

The speaker brings the decision into immediate temporal and discourse focus.

Deixis can therefore make an issue feel near, urgent, shared or distant.

Deixis Can Shift Responsibility

Compare:

You need to change this.
We need to change this.

The proposition is similar, but the participant map changes. The first allocates responsibility toward the addressee; the second distributes or shares it.

This connects to How Speech Acts Turn Sentences Into Requests, Promises, Warnings and Commands.

A Worked Example

Original message:

“Bring this here tomorrow.”

To interpret it, the receiver must reconstruct four anchors:

speaker: who issued the instruction;
this: which object was indicated;
here: which location counted as the speaker’s place;
tomorrow: the day after the original instruction.

Reported a week later, a clear version might be:

Ms Tan told Daniel to bring the signed form to the office the following day.

The deictic shorthand has been resolved into explicit reference.

Deixis in Comprehension

When students encounter words such as this, that, here, there, now, then, we or you, they should ask:

Who is speaking or narrating?
Where is the deictic centre?
What time counts as now?
What earlier noun, event or proposition does this/that point to?
Who is included in we?
Does the wording create closeness or distance?

Deixis in Student Writing

Deictic language works well when writer and reader share a clear context. It becomes risky when the context is absent.

During editing, students should test whether every this, that, here, there and then points to something recoverable.

If the reader cannot reconstruct the anchor, replace the pointing word with a more explicit reference.

A Diagnostic Map

Cannot explain who I/you refers to: identify the speaker and addressee.
Confuses here/there in reported speech: relocate the spatial centre.
Misreads now/then: establish the relevant speaking or narrative time.
Uses this without a clear referent: name the noun or proposition explicitly.
Assumes we always includes the reader: test group membership.
Misses psychological distance: compare this versus that in context.
Reported speech sounds inconsistent: shift pronouns, place and time together.
Comprehension answer ignores viewpoint: identify whose deictic centre controls the passage.

How We Teach Deixis

We take a short utterance and repeatedly change the speaker, location and date while keeping the words the same. Students must explain how the referents move.

Next, they convert dialogue into reported speech and replace deictic shorthand with explicit people, places and dates. This makes the hidden reference system visible.

Why a 3-Pax English Class Helps

Three students can read the same deictic expression from different assumed viewpoints. Their disagreements reveal exactly which anchor is missing. The tutor can then separate vocabulary difficulty from perspective-tracking difficulty.

What Parents Can Look For

When your child encounters this, that, here or then, ask:

From whose position does this word make sense?

Frequently Asked Questions

Is deixis only about pointing words?

No. It includes person, place, time and discourse expressions whose reference depends on context.

Why does this matter in reported speech?

Because changing the reporting centre can require coordinated shifts in pronouns, place words and time expressions.

Why does this matter in Secondary English?

Secondary texts increasingly manipulate viewpoint, stance, dialogue, persuasion and temporal structure. Deictic control helps students reconstruct who is speaking from where and when before they interpret the larger meaning.

The Larger Idea: Meaning Needs Coordinates

Words such as here and now feel simple because conversation supplies their coordinates automatically.

Reading makes those coordinates invisible, so students must reconstruct them.

Strong readers ask where the language is standing before they decide what the language points to.

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