There was just all this money flowing in

[GoodTaste]

Ethan Weiss: I think it became incredibly clear to me during Covid when . . . I don’t know if you saw this, but I sort of felt like a lot of my colleagues who might have been studying liver disease or metabolic disease or, I don’t know, neurodegenerative disease all of a sudden were becoming Covid scientists. The reason for that was so clear, right? There was just all this money flowing in, in the form of both government and nongovernment grants. And if you put a big pot of money in front of people, they’re going to do what they need to do to get that pot of money.

Source: The New England Journal of Medicine The Motives of Medicine

Does the use of "this" here sound natural to you? I feel a bit odd here the speaker doesn't mention the money before the use of "this". The reason is simple to me: I put an apple on the desk before you, then I say "this apple is special because it has grown in the lab that intends to grow it later on Mars"; if I directly said "this" before putting before you, you would feel a bit odd, right? Even considering the title "The Motives of Medicine" (Money appears to be the motives of too many things), it still feels a bit unnatural to me.

Do you think the use of "this" here natural to you?

(Sorry for the format. I think I've somehow mispressed some key(s) on my keyboard and it becomes this and I don't know how to get it back on the right track.) Fixed by moderator.

 

[Barque]

Does the use of "this" here sound natural to you?

Yes.

I feel a bit odd here the speaker doesn't mention the money before the use of "this".

The word "this" can be used like this in informal speech--to refer to something that had happened or that you had come across, even if the other person isn't aware of it.

Yesterday I took a bite of this rotten apple and it tasted so bad I had to go wash my mouth out.
I had this old car some years ago. It made a lot of noise and was uncomfortable but it never broke down.
I have this new multipurpose tool which is much better than anything I've used before.

The reason is simple to me: I put an apple on the desk before you, then I say "this apple is special because it has grown in the lab that intends to grow it later on Mars"; if I directly said "this" before putting before you, you would feel a bit odd, right?

This is a different context. You'll have to get a feel for how "this" is used for things that can't be seen or haven't been referred to before.

If something sounds unfamiliar to you, that doesn't necessarily mean it's wrong. If you hear it from a native speaker or from a reputed publication from a native-speaking country, chances are it's correct.

 

[Barque]

if I directly said "this" before putting before you, you would feel a bit odd, right?

To add to the above post, you could say, without producing the apple:
I have this apple at my place. It was grown by the lab that's working on planting trees on Mars.
There's this apple at my place. It was grown by the lab that's working on planting trees on Mars.