I am currently working through this tutorial: [Getting Started with jQuery][1] [1]: http://docs.jquery.com/Tutorials:Getting_Started_with_jQuery For the two examples below: $("#orderedlist").find("li").each(function (i) { $(this).append(" BAM! " + i); }); $("#reset").click(function () { $("form").each(function () { this.reset(); }); }); Notice in the first example, we use `$(this)` to append some text inside of each `li` element. In the second example we use `this` directly when resetting the form. `$(this)` seems to be used a lot more often than `this`. My guess is in the first example, `$()` is converting each `li` element into a jQuery object which understands the `append()` function whereas in the second example `reset()` can be called directly on the form. Basically we need `$()` for special jQuery-only functions. Is this correct?
@Reigel, why was this protected? The OP questioned and guessed the correct answer.