Yishun English Tuition for Bowen Secondary School is retained as a historical 2019 page title. The renewed article focuses on deixis and the deictic centre: the way words such as I, you, here, there, now, then, this, that, come and go depend on who is speaking, when and where. Families searching for Secondary English tuition in Yishun, critical reading, narrative perspective, grammar, Language Arts, SEC English, IP English and small-group English tuition often see students understand each deictic word but lose track when viewpoint shifts.
“Come here tomorrow” cannot be interpreted without knowing who speaks, where here is and when tomorrow is. In narrative, the centre can shift between narrator and character. In dialogue, this and that can signal psychological closeness as well as physical distance. Strong reading therefore asks: Who is the centre of reference right now, and what changes when that centre moves?
This page owns one learning job: tracking context-dependent reference accurately across dialogue, narrative and argument.
Archive note: this school/programme label is preserved only because it belongs to the historical page title and URL. eduKate is independent of the named school and does not claim affiliation, endorsement, access to internal materials or a current school-specific programme.
Deixis
Deixis refers to expressions whose interpretation depends on the speech or discourse situation.
Deictic Centre
The default centre is often the speaker, the present moment and the speaker’s location.
Person Deixis
I, me, we, you, he, she and they locate participants relative to the current speaker.
Speaker Shift
When a new speaker takes a turn, I and you change referents immediately.
Inclusive We
We can include the listener: ‘We need to act.’
Exclusive We
We can exclude the listener: ‘We have decided to change the rule.’ Context determines the group.
Place Deixis
Here, there, this place, that room, come and go depend on spatial viewpoint.
Come and Go
Come often encodes movement towards the deictic centre; go often encodes movement away, though ordinary usage can be flexible.
This and That
This commonly signals relative closeness; that relative distance. The distance can be physical, temporal or psychological.
Time Deixis
Now, then, today, yesterday, tomorrow, last week and next year depend on the time of utterance.
Reported Speech
Tomorrow may become the next day when speech is reported from a later viewpoint.
Historical Present
A narrator can shift into present tense to create immediacy, temporarily resetting temporal perspective.
Social Deixis
Titles and forms of address encode social relationship: Dr, Sir, Madam, first names and kinship terms.
Discourse Deixis
This point, that argument, the following example and the previous section refer to parts of the discourse itself.
Anaphora Versus Deixis
A pronoun can refer back to text, while a deictic term can point into the speech situation. Some expressions can do both.
Deictic Projection
Speakers can imagine another viewpoint: ‘I’ll come to your office tomorrow’ adopts the listener’s location as destination.
Narrative Deixis
Fiction can anchor readers inside a character’s here-and-now even while narration remains third person.
Free Indirect Style
Words such as now, here and tomorrow can reveal a character’s experiential centre inside third-person narration.
Psychological Distance
A speaker may use that to distance an idea emotionally: ‘I don’t want that kind of life.’
Demonstratives and Evaluation
This can make an issue feel immediate; that can create distance or dismissal.
Political and Persuasive We
We can construct community and shared responsibility, but analysts should ask who is actually included.
Othering Through They
Repeated they can build an out-group, especially when no precise referent is supplied.
Spatial Deixis in Setting
Here/there shifts can reveal belonging, exile or perspective.
Temporal Deixis in Memory
Then and now can organise contrast between past self and present narrator.
Deixis in Instructions
Words such as here and tomorrow can become unusable when a notice is copied into a new context. Absolute dates and locations are safer.
Digital Communication
A screenshot can detach now, here or today from the original posting context.
Deictic Ambiguity
If the centre is unclear, deictic words become ambiguous even when grammar is correct.
Deixis Laboratory
Message: ‘Meet me here tomorrow.’ Without sender, place and timestamp, the instruction is incomplete. Replace with an explicit location and date for durable practical writing.
Narrative Laboratory
‘Tomorrow she would leave this place.’ In past-tense narration, tomorrow can reflect the character’s current viewpoint rather than the narrator’s present.
Fictional Learner
Mira reads ‘We have decided’ and assumes the writer includes the reader. Her tutor asks who the institutional speaker represents. Mira distinguishes inclusive from exclusive we.
A 90-Minute Lesson
Use 10 minutes for deictic centre, 15 for person deixis, 15 for time/place, 15 for social/discourse deixis, 15 for narrative shifts, 15 for analytical paragraph and 5 for transfer.
Independence Test
Give a fresh passage with dialogue, reported speech and a viewpoint shift. Ask the student to map every I, we, here, there, now, then, this and that to its current centre.
Larger Goal
Deictic reading helps students understand that some words do not carry complete reference by themselves; they point from a moving centre.
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