The dimension of proximity in the demonstratives, whether in English or in Arabic is complicated by two other factors,
the temporal factor which belongs to the next section, and the psychological factor which tends to use the proximal
pronoun for favourable objects and situations and the distal pronoun for unfavourable ones.????(as the following examples (taken from (Faulkner's Sound and Fury and its Arabic translation
by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra) show:The precise use of these
dimensions in English is too complicated to be formulated into rules (Lyons 1977, p. 668) and the problem is more
complicated in Arabic.English uses the distal' 'that' for unfavourable objects and situations, while Arabic, on the other hand,
uses the proximal ( ???However, here the two languages seem to show some difference in their use of the
demonstratives.