有读者问： 有这样一句话：
(1)“There's this house down in Worcester, Vinnie,” Barney said. “The guy that owns it is Andy the Fruit Man. ...”
上文并未提到过这幢房子，但这里却用了 this， 不知是何原故？
这里的 this 原是美语，常用于口语叙述体中，相当于 a certain （某一个）的强调形式，但较不定冠词 a 生动。 There's 之后常可用此 this ，再如：
(2)I was just reading this morning's Wall Street Journal and there's this California firm...
(3)Anyway, there's this guy, away back then, and they call him Chevalier-Rider—because he handles a horse so good...
当然，它也可用在其他许多句型中，如：
(4)I have a cousin who married this Puerto Rican fellow.
(5)I ran into this fish-and-chips joint, and...
(6)This man came up to me in the street and started making rude suggestions.
(7)Why, last night I went to the picture show, and I was sitting there next to this girl and she got up and moved...
(8)Next thing I knew I was in this big office...
有时 this 可与 certain 连用，如：
(9)She would begin in the way that all story tellers began: “At this certain time, in this certain village, lived this certain person.”
this 与 day, night 等时间词连用时，可相当 one 或 on a，如：
(10)This Septemper day, he was particularly choleric.
有时还可用 this 加强 one 的语气，如：
(11)This one night I started drinking at a bar in Boston and I got plastered.
同样，其复形 these 也可相当于“某”，如：
(12)There were these two Irishmen called Pat and Mike.
