'éste' usage in a sentence
Dear all,
my question: what is the use of 'éste' in the following passage?
'Pero los Weasley tiraron con más fuerza, y el tío Vernon tuvo que soltar la
pierna de Harry. Tan pronto como éste se encontró dentro del coche y hubo
cerrado la puerta con un portazo, gritó Ron: ...'
Does 'éste' refer to Harry? If so, why is it needed when we can understand perfectly w/o it?
Thank you in advance!
3 Answers
To add to Daniela's post, let's not forget "the former".
"Maria y Marta son hermanas, y aquella es mi vecina." "Mary and Martha are sisters, and the former is my neighbor."
Just adding my two centavo's worth.
In English they say "the latter." Pedro y Juan son gemelos. Este es mi novio.
Pedro and Juan are twins. The latter is my boyfriend.
"Éste" is a demonstrative pronoun, that is, a pronoun used to refer a noun previously mentioned (in this case "Harry"). However, according to the new grammar rules, "este" (and "esta") don't have written accents anymore. If the pronoun weren't here, it wouldn't be clear if we are talking about the subject (Vernon) or Harry, the last name mentioned.
