student asking question

Why does he say "that car" not "the car"? What does "that car" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"That" directs the attention towards something specific whereas "the" is used to refer to a general idea of something, but does not direct the attention to something in particular. So "that car" refers to a particular car that was there in the past. In contrast, "the car" would refer to a general car.

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