I often question the usage of these/those/this and that. He wrote a letter and said he was going to post it. That was what he said. This was what he said. He did not remember the address but he was sure that/this was the way?
Oh! Dear God!! I thought I had it crystal clear in my mind. And now I've started to doubt my concepts and beliefs about this thing
in past tense, 'that' makes best sense... in present, 'this' would... same goes for 'these' and 'those'... 'these' for present and 'those' for past...
Oh no!!I am truly sorry..it is one of those things ..I think I have got it and then it happens again.:redface: I get this mixed up: one of these days and one of those days. or those were the days and these were the days. I think the first two ones are correct.
Both are correct, with different meanings. "One of these days" refers to an unspecified time in the future: "I'll get around to doing that job one of these days". "One of those days" can mean one of a selection of days (probably in the past, but possibly in the future): "I can't remember if he called on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, but it was one of those days." More often it refers to days with a particular characteristic: "It was one of those days when it seemed that everything was right with the world." The characteristic can be positive or negative, but if "one of those days" is used without explanation it's assumed to be bad: "Sorry if I'm a bit short tempered today: I've been having one of those days." The former. These days are still going on, so "were" is the wrong tense. "These are the days..." can make sense.
The one rule that I found somewhere states to use "that" when the writer is simply referring backwards to make reference to a previously stated idea, but to use "this" when the writer is referring to a previously stated idea and making a new statement about the idea. TheComet
