Re: What's the difference between it and that?
I've just read the whole thread again.
I actually don't know why I don't know when to use that and it correctly I sometimes do it without knowing.
Do you mean that you
do know when to use them but that you don't know
how you know. Is that what you mean?
How do you divide questions into native-like and non-native-like? I mean I know Russian native speakers who don't know, say, how to use correctly cases and other things that are obvious to me. But they are still native speakers.
Questions about reference words are not such cases, and are not related to grammar, but to meaning. To say that you don't know how to refer to something is like saying you don't know what you mean—it's just not possible.
And which one is correct
1.It was a long time ago
2. That was a long time ago
They're both correct. It's just the nature of the reference that's different. We use
that when we want to clearly distinguish the thing we're referring to from other things.
Hello, I barely know the difference between that and it. I don't know how I get confused between these two words. I just want to use them correctly.
I'm terribly confused now. If you're a native speaker, you must already know how to use them correctly, so I'll just assume you're asking as a learner.
How do I respond to questions like "Can you throw this in the bin?" Do I say "Yes, I'll do it" or "Yes, I'll do that"?
You could say "Okay" or just "Yes".
Is it "I don't know where it is" or I don't know where that is"?
It depends on what kind of reference you want to make. Normally, when there's no special need to distinguish the thing we mean from other things, we use
it.
Q:
Could I borrow your phone for a second, please?
A:
I don't know where it is.
Is it "I like it" or "I like that"?
Again, it depends on what kind of reference you want to make.
Q:
What do you think of my hairstyle?
A:
I like it.
The word
it is a pronoun, which we use to replace noun phrases. In the dialogues above,
it means 'my phone' and 'your hairstyle', respectively. It's a way to avoid repeating the word or phrase that we mean.
The word
that is a special kind of pronoun (in these sentences) called a
demonstrative. We use demonstratives to place a special emphasis on what we're referring to. This is usually to distinguish the thing from other things.
It helps to think of the word
that as paired with the very similar word
this, which I'm guessing you already know how to use. Imagine a conversation between a hairdresser and a customer. The hairdresser is showing the customer a series of photographs of different hairstyles:
Q:
Do you like this?
A:
No.
Q:
Do you like this?
A:
Not really, no.
Q:
How about this?
A:
Yes, I like that.