2. Elements in a text refer to other elements
(their referents)
Achieved through the use of
pronouns
articles
Reference
3. He’s played junkies and cities slickers, Jedi knights and
US rangers. He’s at home in Hollywood’s boulevards
and Glasgow’s tenements. He spends his life in the
arms of beautiful women and is happily married… It
seems Ewan McGregor can do anything he wants
A cataphoric reference unit refers to another unit that
is introduced later on in the text/speech. To understand
the unit refered to by a cataphoric reference you would
need to look ahead in the text/speech.
Here, the pronoun He is a Cataphoric reference because it refers to the noun
Ewan McGregor that is introduced later on the text.
Cataphoric reference
4. Anaphoric reference means that a word in a text
refers back to other ideas in the text for its meaning.
It can be compared with cataphoric reference, which
means a word refers to ideas later in the text.
"Susan dropped the plate. It shattered loudly"
the word "it" refers to the phrase "the plate".
Anaphoric reference
5.
6. Reference through synonyms
A Bedouin once had business in the cattle market of a town. He
took his young son with him, but in the confusion of the place he
lost track of his boy and the child was stolen.
The father hired a crier to shout through the streets that a reward
of one thousand was offered for the return of the child. Although
the man who held the boy heard the crier, greed had opened his
belly and he hoped to earn an even larger sum. So he waited
and said nothing.
On the following day the crier was sent through the streets
again...
Bedouin: the father
Bedouin’s son: son, boy, child
Town: the place
