It’s These, Not These Ones

These ones come from Paris. Those ones come from Australia.

Used in this way, these and those are demonstrative pronouns that should never be followed by ones. These already refers to the objects (the ones, the things) that are near, and those already refers to the objects (the ones, the things) that are farther away, so it’s redundant—and poor English—to say these ones or those ones—unless the these or those ones to which you’re referring are one-dollar bills!

Sherry

Sherry’s Grammar List and Paul’s book–Literally, the Best Language Book Ever

Advertisement
This entry was posted in grammar and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.