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As far as I know (I thought I knew), こ- is related to things that are close to
the person who speaks, and そ- is related to the person who is spoken to. Is
that right ?

However, in a exercise book, I had to answer this:

__犬はバカです。(close from the interlocutor)

I answered "その", but the book answer says "この", and I don't get why.
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2016-08-10T11:50:02.353
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2020-10-26T04:02:09.277
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question
grammar
Difference between この and その
Your understanding of この and その is correct, I think the confusion comes from
the wording of the question. As there only seems to be one person talking, you
can assume that person is the interlocutor. So if the subject is close to the
interlocutor (the person speaking), you would use この.
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2016-08-10T13:09:09.290
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2016-08-10T13:09:09.290
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answer
Let me give you an easier way of understanding.

この and その can be interpreted as 'this' and 'that' respectively.

この is used when the object is nearby the speaker and その when the object is far
from the speaker but not to the point of a third person.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/w3EDe.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/w3EDe.jpg)

This picture is from the JLPT N5 text.

Hope this gives you an idea.
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2020-10-23T04:26:55.610
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answer