¿Estos, Eso o Esto?

Question

Here is the sentence: Él siempre está comiendo (estos-eso-esto) y no es bueno.

Couldn't the answer be either eso or esto, depending on whether they were meaning "this food" or "that food"?

Answer 1

We really need to know the previous conversation to know if the these, this, or that refer to a specific noun.

Estos would be correct if a previous sentence contained a plural, masculine noun to serve as an antecedent of the pronoun. The neuter pronoun usually refers to an abstract concept, idea or situation. Your example seems to be referring to something specific (type of food or dish) mentioned previously.

If there is no previously mentioned noun to serve as an antecedent, I agree that it could be either esto or eso depending on the spacial relation of the thing from the speaker. Esto would be referring to something at the speaker's location or very close by, eso would be farther away and aquello (if it were one of our choices) would be yet farther away.

Thank you so much, Quentin. Your explaination was exactly what I needed. I really appreciate the time it took to write this. You're the greatest! - Echoline, Jan 18, 2011