When is Dies better than Dieses?

Question

I have learned that dies is a contracted form of dieses in the singular Nominative or accusative Neuter. My question is, in which case is Dies preffered over Dieses and vice versa?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Basically, the two words mean the same and can widely be used interchangeably.

Having said this, dieses usually fits better when it refers to a countable thing and one thing in particular.

Zum Thema Wörter: dieses paßt hier besser als dies.

Dies, on the other hand, fits better for uncountable (or, rather, non-countable) things: concepts, opinions and so on. Also for non-specified things:

Er glaubte, zu gewinnen. Dies sollte sich als Irrtum herausstellen.

also

Dies habe ich gefunden: ein Buch, ein Licht und ein Lesezeichen.

Here what was found is not specified at the time and hence "dies" is used. In contrast, in the following sentence we already know what is spoken about:

Jenes Buch habe ich gekauft. Dieses habe ich gefunden.

You can also use "das" as a Demonstrativpronomen instead of dies. In German there is the proverbial "dies und das" with about the same meaning as "this and that" in English: "nothing in particular".

Er glaubte, zu gewinnen. Das sollte sich als Irrtum herausstellen.

would be equally correct, grammatically as well as stylistically.