# No, that/he isn't.



## rino delbello

Hi All

I have a doubt about short answers with that. For example, see below :

Who's that in the photo? Is that your cousin?

No, he isn't. He's my brother.

Grammatically speaking, is it correct the above example, ' No, that isn't. That's my brother ' or  ' No, he isn't. That's my brother ' ?


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## grassy

No, it's my brother.


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## Uncle Jack

Grammatically, it would be "No, it isn't". "No, he isn't" would be common if ever there was a need to add anything after "no", but usually "no" on its own is enough. You can then add "it's my brother" or "he's my brother", whichever you think best.


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## rino delbello

Thanks you all. Therefore, the negative short answer is ' No. He isn't my brother. ' .  Could you confirm this please?


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> Therefore, the negative short answer is ' No. He isn't my brother. ' . Could you confirm this please?


That would be a particularly unusual answer to the question "Is that your cousin?"  

The negative short answer, as you put it, is "No".


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks again


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## rino delbello

Uncle Jack said:


> Grammatically, it would be "No, it isn't". "No, he isn't" would be common if ever there was a need to add anything after "no", but usually "no" on its own is enough. You can then add "it's my brother" or "he's my brother", whichever you think best.



Hi again Uncle Jack , when you said You can add "it's my brother" or "he's my brother", whichever you think best, could I also use ' That's my brother '' ?


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> Hi again Uncle Jack , when you said You can add "it's my brother" or "he's my brother", whichever you think best, could I also use ' That's my brother '' ?


Yes, you can. In general, when someone else refers to "that", you can refer to it as "that" as well, unless it is more appropriate to use "this" or "this one" instead (if the other person is referring to something that is close to you, for example). However, when referring to people, you might prefer to use a personal pronoun, particularly if the person is close to you.


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks a lot . When you said unless it is more appropriate to use "this" or "this one" instead (if the other person is referring to something that is close to you, for example), in the question '' Who's this '', if the person that I am close to is too close and I am asking a friend of mine in a low voice who the person is (considering that the person can't hear us talking or whispering about him) , can I use '' Who's this man '' instead of '' Who's this? '' or '' Who's this one '' ? if possible, I would like to know if it is both grammatically correct and of common usage to use '' Who's this man '' in this context.


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## Forero

grassy said:


> No, it's my brother.




Another answer to the same question might be "No, and though it looks a lot like my aunt's hat on the back of a chair, it must really be my brother, who had lots of hair in those days."

I would not answer a "Who is that ...?" question with "he is". In fact "that" in this context does not directly refer to a person but to a part of a picture.


rino delbello said:


> OK, thanks a lot . When you said unless it is more appropriate to use "this" or "this one" instead (if the other person is referring to something that is close to you, for example), in the question '' Who's this '', if the person that I am close to is too close and I am asking a friend of mine in a low voice who the person is (considering that the person can't hear us talking or whispering about him) , can I use '' Who's this man '' instead of '' Who's this? '' or '' Who's this one '' ? if possible, I would like to know if it is both grammatically correct and of common usage to use '' Who's this man '' in this context.


"Who's this man?" would be a valid question, but "Who's this one" would not work unless you had already been talking about men.

There is still no need to answer with "he" because the referent is still not the man himself but his identity. I could say, for example, "That's my brother" or "It's my brother."


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## rino delbello

Thanks a lot Forero


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## rino delbello

Hi All again, I hope you're doing very well 

Supposing  ' *Who's that in the photo? Is that your cousin ? ' *was replaced by ' *Who's the person in the photo ? Is he/it your cousin?* ', would the correct short answer be '  *No, it's my brother. *' or ' *No, he's my brother.* ' ?

At any rate, when I started my thread, I forgot to specify that one of the two people looking at the photo was holding the photo in his hand. I don't know if it may be a piece of useful information, sorry for not specifying.


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## Loob

*Who's the person in the photo ? Is it your cousin?* >>> *No, it's my brother. 
Who's the person in the photo ? Is he your cousin? *>>> *No, he's my brother.* 

I'd say the first is more likely.


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## Uncle Jack

"Is that your cousin?">>>>"No, that's, my brother".

It is common to use the same pronoun in the answer as was used in the question, but it is not essential. Use whatever pronoun you think fits best.

In the structure you are using, the most obvious sequence is 
Who's that/the person (in the photo)?​Is it X? [Using "it" to refer back to "that"/"the person"]​No, it's Y. [Repeating "it" from the question]​


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## rino delbello

OK; thanks a lot Loob and Uncle Jack


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## rino delbello

Hi again and hope youre doing very very good , here is some news : I've found a short piece of text taken from a textbook :

Who's this? She's very pretty.
Oh *that's the girl* who roganized all the parties. That was taken during a fancy dress competition, which james actually won, believe it or not!

Therefore, in order to add another answer to the thirteenth post, would the answer in bold changed into '' *No, that's my brother. *'' fit the thirteenth post as well or not?


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> Hi again and hope youre doing very very good ,


Thank you, but the adverb is "well", not "good".


rino delbello said:


> I've found a short piece of text taken from a textbook :
> 
> Who's this? She's very pretty.
> Oh *that's the girl* who roganized all the parties. That was taken during a fancy dress competition, which james actually won, believe it or not!
> 
> Therefore, in order to add another answer to the thirteenth post, would the answer in bold changed into '' *No, that's my brother. *'' fit the thirteenth post as well or not?


It is possible if the question used "it", but unlikely if the question used "he". We are more likely to use "he" and "she" for people we are close to. If the question used "that", then answering with "that" would be usual.


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## rino delbello

You're very welcome, I usually type fast, sorry for the joined * youre , OK. To understand these forms better, in the short piece of text can '' Who's *this* ? ''  be replaced by '' Who* is it*?  and keep '' Oh, *that's the girl* who organized all the parties. '' ?


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## Edinburgher

rino delbello said:


> in the short piece of text can '' Who's *this* ? '' be replaced by '' Who* is it*? and keep '' Oh, *that's the girl* who organized all the parties. '' ?


The context in which the question is asked would determine what form the question can take.
If the speaker is looking at a photo, and pointing at someone in it, then "Who is it?" would be very unlikely.


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> To understand these forms better, in the short piece of text can '' Who's *this* ? '' be replaced by '' Who* is it*? and keep '' Oh, *that's the girl* who organized all the parties. '' ?


The questions are not interchangeable, as Edinburgher says, but "That's the girl who..." could be used in answer to either.


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## rino delbello

OK but I know that the demonstrative *this* is used for things that are near and *that* for things that are far from the speaker. How come can '' That's the girl who... '' be the answer to '' *Who's this ?* '' I'm getting confused.


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> OK but I know that the demonstrative *this* is used for things that are near and *that* for things that are far from the speaker. How come can '' That's the girl who... '' be the answer to '' *Who's this ?* '' I'm getting confused.


The two speakers are referring to the girl from different perspectives. I imagine the person asking the question is pointing at the girl in the photograph. In this context, it makes sense to use "this". However, the other person is not pointing at anything, but they are referring to something that someone else is pointing at. In this situation, they would use "that".


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks for clearing that


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## rino delbello

Hi again, Uncle Jack I'm thinking about post #22. You said '' someone else ''. However, in the photo they are referring to the person in the photo only. Who is this '' someone else '' ? There's not any other '' someone else '' who is pointing at the photo.


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## Uncle Jack

The "someone else" is the first person. Anyone who is not "the other person" is "someone else" to them.

Person 1 is pointing at a person in a photograph, so they use "this".
Person 2 is not pointing at anything, but they are referring to something being pointed to by another person (person 1), so they use "that".


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## rino delbello

OK. Can the reason for using '' that '' also refer to the fact that Person 2 remembers that event so as he/she did not have any reason for pointing at?


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## Uncle Jack

"That" is the usual pronoun for referring to something (a singular concrete noun, generally excluding people). No special reason is needed for using "that". "This" can only be used in specific situations, such as where the thing is near at hand or is being pointed to by the speaker.


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## rino delbello

OK. But in spite of referring to something in general, '' that '' in this specific case may also refer to people, is that correct?


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## Uncle Jack

"That" is used to refer to people in an indirect way. Using "that" to refer to a person in a photograph is common.


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks again. If the question in post #13 is changed into '' Who is in the bedroom? '' and the person who is asking the question is out of home, do I have to keep the same answers in post 13 # or not?


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## Forero

rino delbello said:


> OK, thanks again. If the question in post #13 is changed into '' Who is in the bedroom? '' and the person who is asking the question is out of home, do I have to keep the same answers in post 13 # or not?


I seem to be a little confused. Are you talking about a photograph at all?

The answers I see in post #13 are "No, it's my brother" and "No, he's my brother", answering "Is that your cousin?", "Is it your cousin?", or "Is he your cousin?".

Obviously, I don't think the answer to "Who is in the bedroom?" would start with "No".

Can you spell out your question without relying on "post #13"?


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## rino delbello

Yes, let me explain it more clear, sorry all: two brothers are outside their house and one of them asks '' Who is in the bedroom now ? '',  The other should answer'' *That's Lisa *'', ''* It's Lisa* '' or both are fine? Obviously Lisa is their sister.


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## JulianStuart

rino delbello said:


> Yes, let me explain it more clear, sorry all: two brothers are outside their house and one of them asks '' Who is in the bedroom now ? '',  The other should answer'' *That's Lisa *'', ''* It's Lisa* '' or both are fine? Obviously Lisa is their sister.


Can they see the person in  the bedroom? Context is critical.
(The most likely answer to this question is simply "Lisa").


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## rino delbello

OK and what if they want to specify it better using '' that's'' or '' it's '' ? Which one?


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## JulianStuart

rino delbello said:


> OK and what if they want to specify it better using '' that's'' or '' it's '' ? Which one?


That wouldn't be "better"


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## rino delbello

and what about '' it '' ?


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## JulianStuart




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## Uncle Jack

You need to provide more context.


rino delbello said:


> Yes, let me explain it more clear, sorry all: two brothers are outside their house and one of them asks '' Who is in the bedroom now ? '',  The other should answer'' *That's Lisa *'', ''* It's Lisa* '' or both are fine? Obviously Lisa is their sister.


The obvious answer is "How would I know?"

However, it is difficult to think of a situation where they would use "that". "That's X" is used to identify a person that the person asking the question does not recognise.


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## rino delbello

But I have provided the context. In fact, they are outside of their house and one of them knows that Lisa is in the bedroom now. For this reason, he answers : '' Lisa '' as JulianStuart said, but to specify more using the pronouns, I've asked which between '' That's or '' It's ''. I'm sorry but I don't have anything else to add to the context


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## Uncle Jack

There is a huge difference between the two of them clearly seeing a person that the speaker does not recognise, and the two of them indistinctly seeing a person that the speaker cannot make out who they are. However, in your context, you did not say that they could see the person at all, and the question appears to be saying "guess who is in the bedroom".


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## Forero

In "Who is in the bedroom?", "Who" is the subject, so why would you want the answer to start with "That's" or "It's"?

A proper answer (by this I mean a direct answer to the question without any "reading between the lines") would be "Lisa is", or just "Lisa".

But if the question is "Who is that in the bedroom?", then"Lisa is" does not work at all and "It's Lisa" and "That's Lisa" are both good answers, as is plain "Lisa".

On the other hand, if a person says something like "If you can, please tell me who is in the bedroom", then the rejoinder can take any of several forms, including "That's Lisa", "It's Lisa", and "Lisa is", as well as plain "Lisa". "Who" is a subject here too, but not the subject of a direct question. "It" and "that" in this case can mean "what I can tell you" or "the answer to your question" or even "the identity of the person in the bedroom".


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## rino delbello

OK, I 've got what I needed, thanks a lot Forero and all of you. Last question : are the questions '' Who is in the bedroom? '' and '' Who is that in the bedroom? '' synonyms or is there a subtle difference between them?


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## Wordy McWordface

There is a difference.

"Who is in the bedroom?" is a fairly open question. The speaker has no idea how many people are in the bedroom. The answer could be "Nobody" or it could be a list of ten people.

"Who is that in the bedroom?" has some context. Maybe the speaker can hear a person moving about (or singing, whistling etc) or maybe they caught a glimpse of a figure through the bedroom window. The speaker therefore knows that there is one person in the bedroom; they are asking about the identity of that individual.


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## rino delbello

OK, thanks a lot Wordy McWordface.


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## rino delbello

Hi All

Regards the contractions to be used in this context, I know that they are mostly used in speaking. Regards my knowledge, I know that it works like this. In order to know more about how it works, are the complete forms '' *He is* '', '' *That is* '' and '' *It is* '' also used in speaking sometimes, only in informal writing, not even in in formal writing or only in formal writing?


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## Uncle Jack

rino delbello said:


> are the complete forms '' *He is* '', '' *That is* '' and '' *It is* '' also used in speaking sometimes, only in informal writing, not even in in formal writing or only in formal writing?


They are common in all forms of writing (except, perhaps, situations such as text messages and Twitter where there is a character limit). They are less common in speech, but they are sometimes used, particularly when you want to use the stress pattern of the sentence to add emphasis, and the two syllables of he/that/it is does this better than a single syllable. If you want to emphasise "is", then of course you don't contract it:
A: That's my brother in the picture​B: That's not your brother.​A: It *is* my brother.​


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## rino delbello

OK. thanks a lot Uncle Jack


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## rino delbello

Hi All Natives

Here is a issue related to this thread which needs clearing.

If I ask someone : '' Is it Diego the guy sitting on the bench? '', can the other choose to respond positively both '' Yes, it is. '' and '' Yes, he is. '' and negatively '' No, it isn't. '' / No, he isn't. '' ?


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## heypresto

Is it Diego the guy sitting on the bench?   

Is Diego the guy sitting on the bench? _Yes/no_. 
Is *it* Diego (who is) sitting on the bench? _Yes* it* is/no* it* isn't_. 
Is Diego sitting on the bench? _Yes/no. _

Diego *is* sitting on the bench. _No he *isn't*. _ 
Diego* isn't *sitting on the bench. _Yes he* is*_.


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## rino delbello

OK. Thanks a lot heypresto

Is the question '' Is it Diego near Kyle? '' correct? I'm getting really confused about using '' it '' to identify someone. Can you give me a question-related example with* it *similar to '' Is it Diego near Kyle?* '' *so as to understand, please?


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## heypresto

Is it (or that) Diego standing near/next to/behind/in front of Kyle? 

The answer could be 'Yes', 'No', 'Yes it is' or 'No it isn't.'


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## rino delbello

OK. Thanks for the example. Can your question be replaced by '' Is Diego standing near/next to/behind/in front of Kyle? Would it be correct without *it *or not?


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## heypresto

It would be a correct question, but it would have a different meaning.

Your question (without 'it/that') is asking about Diego, and where he is.

My question (with 'it/that') is asking whether that person over there by Kyle is Diego.


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## rino delbello

OK. Thanks a lot for clarifying it


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## rino delbello

Hi again

I'm thinking about post #51, is '' standing '' compulsory or not?


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## heypresto

It might depend on the context, and it would probably be helpful to the listener, but _grammatically _it's not compulsory.


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## rino delbello

OK. Could you give me some example to understand when it's compulsory and when it's not, please?


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## heypresto

It's _never _compulsory, but including it would be clearer and more helpful to the listener if there were, say, several people near Kyle, and some are sitting, but one is standing, and you are asking specifically about the person standing.


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## rino delbello

OK. I've got it , thanks again


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## rino delbello

If in post #51 I use '' that '' in the question, can the answer be '' No, that isn't. '' instead of '' No, it isn't. '' ?


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## heypresto

In short, no.


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## rino delbello

OK. Last thing, is in post #49 the part '' (who) is sitting '' compulsory or can '' Is *it* Diego on the bench? '' work as well?


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## Chasint

Idiomatically we would not say, "Is it Diego near Kyle?". The idiomatic version would be "Is that Diego near Kyle?"

Unless, of course, I have misunderstood you r question. Please can you give a scenario similar to the following to show what you mean.

- Hello Maria
- Hello Martin
- See those people on the bench over there?
- Yes
- Is that Diego next to Kyle?
- No, the person sitting next to Kyle is Antonio.


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## rino delbello

Here is the situation in a park:
Hello Maria
Hello Martin
Martin points someone and says : '' Look! Is it Diego on the bench ? '' (Diego is the only person sitting on the bench, but Martin is not sure whether the person is Diego or not because he last saw him a few years ago and can't remember his look well, while the other people are near the bench, nearby or walking)


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## Wordy McWordface

The natural exchange would be this:

Is *that *Diego on the bench?
Yes, *it* is / No, *it* isn't.


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## heypresto

It's possible, but more likely would be 'Is _that _Diego . . . ?'


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## rino delbello

OK. Thanks a lot again.


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