REFERENCE

Reference is a cohesive device.

Reference forms:
1. Articles:
• ‘a’ / ‘an’ indicate that the speaker is referring to an entity that has not
been mentioned before, and is not in the immediate context of the text.
• ‘the’ indicates the referent should be identifiable (has already been
mentioned in the text, or is in the immediate context of the text, etc.)
• It should be clear that ‘a’ and ‘an’ are not cohesive: they do not refer to
other entities in the text. So, of the articles, only ‘the’ is cohesive, and only
when used endophorically (can be understood from the text)
• Ex: There was a

2. Demonstratives:
• this/that, these/those, here/there
• But demonstratives are also used endophorically.
• Examples:
• As Head: I loved her but that was not enough.
• As Determiner: I met another man called John. This one was kind.
• As Adjunct: I thought he was nice. There, I was wrong 2

3. Pronouns:

3. Non-referential (Generic Reference):

•You (anyone), these days, it’s (impersonal).
•Non-referential ‘IT’ (Dummy it): meteorological subject, it cleft (“it was
Peter who…”), extraposition (“it is important that you pass” – that you
pass is important)
Comparative reference:
• “Identifying reference”-covered so far-identifies a previously
mentioned entity. Comparative reference, however, refers to a new entity
through a comparison related to a previous entity. (like a premodifier that
compares. They DO NOT REFER to the previous entity)
• 1. Give me another/the other biscuit. 2. I had a similar experience. 3. A
larger shark was caught today 4. Give me more sugar.

Read the passage below and identify which of the pronouns in italics are referential
and which are not.
non referential
It is worth noticing that children who are most punished are often
non referential referential
the most disobedient. It may be that they
referential
are punished because they are disobedient, but careful study does
referential
not seem to bear this out.

Say whether the underlined NPs have generic or specific reference:

generic
1. The pen is mightier than the sword.
specific
2. The pen I bought yesterday has broken already.
generic
3. There is a cat on the roof.
generic
4. A cat is a small domestic animal.
generic
5. Cats have been domesticated for centuries.
generic
6. There were cats everywhere.
generic
7. The Welsh love to sing in chorus.
specific
8. The Welshmen were singing lustily.

Identify the type of textual reference conveyed by the elements in italics (general or
specific) and then classified them into 'exophoric' or 'endophoric'. Finally, when
'endophoric', indicate if the reference is 'anaphoric' or 'cataphoric'.
i.e. You never know what to do in situations like that -General, exophoric, -.

Specific
1. I told you not to do that. ,
exophoric -
,
2. As soon as the hikers saw the huge snake they started
Specific endophoric anaphoric
screaming. , ,
 3. It rained day and night for two weeks. The basement flooded and everything
was under water. It spoilt all our
Specific endophoric anaphoric
calculations. , ,
4. Although it wasn’t very big, the hikers screamed when they saw the snake
Specific endophoric cataphoric
on the path. , ,
5. This is something that happened to me a few days ago. I was walking alone
along a dimly lit street when suddenly a stranger approached
Specific endophoric cataphoric
me ... , ,

Find all instances of anaphoric or cataphoric references. Type the reference in each
gap following the order they appear in the text. Then, select its type:

"He sat on the white sand and looked out across the sparkling blue water. Hercules
Poirot was carefully dressed in a dandified fashion in white flannels and a large
panama hat protected his head. He belonged to the old-fashioned generation which
believed in covering itself carefully from the sun. Miss Pamela Lyall, who sat beside
him and talked carelessly, represented the modern school of thought in that she was
wearing the barest minimum of clothing on her sun-browned person."
REFERENCE / TYPE
He
1-
cataphoric
-

his
2-
anaphoric
-

he
3-
anaphoric
-

w hich
4-
anaphoric
-
itself
5-
anaphoric
-
w ho
6-
anaphoric
-
him
7-
 anaphoric
-
she
8-
anaphoric
-
her
9-
anaphoric
-

Complete each of the sentences with that, this, these, or those.

this
1- I´m always out when my favourite TV programme is on. ´s why I never
watch TV.
these
2- Different channels seem to have different weather forecasts. How can
things happen?
3- Channel 4 is supposed to be for people who like documentaries while Channel 3 is
those
for who enjoy soap operas.
4- Cheap programmes, amateur production values unimaginative
these
programming: are just some of the reasons for the channel´s failure.
5- Satellite and cable have led to a massive increase in the number of channels. Many
this
would say that has led to a reduction in quality.