That/it

Question

Is this okay when asking about swimming gear?That's for swimming, right?Or It's for swimming, right?  What's the difference here?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anon006
Is this okay when asking about swimming gear?
That's for swimming, right?
Or
It's for swimming, right?

What's the difference here?

In general, "that" is for making a reference to something in the physical environment, something in the situation you are in when you say it. If it's a physical object, you can see it and point to it.

"it" is for making a reference to something in the linguistic environment. It's a reference to something that another word has already made reference to.

In the example you presented, 'that' would more likely be used when the swimming gear in question is actually present in the environment, or at the very least, in an image that you are looking at.

'it' would be more likely if the swimming gear had just been described to you earlier in the conversation, but you had never actually seen it or heard of it before.

Since you have provided no situation in which you are thinking of using these sentences, it's impossible to say which is better, or even if either one would be all right. Even so, you would hardly be making much of a mistake if you used either one.

CJ

That/it

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