This is/These are
Sometimes, there are lots of things around us and it's difficult to understand what we are talking about. For example:
In a classroom, there are lots of pencil cases. If we want to talk about one, we can point with our finger and say "This is a pencil case". If we talk about more than 1 (2,3,4...), we say "These are pencil cases".
THIS is a ....
When we want to know the name of one (1) thing which is near you (you can almost touch it), we can point at it and ask:
What is this?
This is a book.
Near=close=here= you can almost touch it.
THESE are ...
When we want to know the name of two (2) or more things which are near you, we can point at them and ask:
What are these?
These are books.
