Reference Word

BEL 120 - REFERENCE WORDS

TUESDAY, 12.7.2011 - Contextual References 

are words which substitute for other words (to avoid using the same word over and over).They refer back towords that have been used. Also they may refer forward to ideas that will be stated. Contextual referrence is being able to recognize and identify contextual references and will help you understand the passage you are reading.You must pay attention to reference words when they occur in the text you are reading.You can find the meaning of references by searching the text and using your common sense and knowledge of the text.

Pronouns as Reference Words

The classical example of a reference word is the simple pronoun, as in example 1 above, where the pronoun she refers to Germany three times.

Pronouns are somewhat limited in that they may refer only to items within the same paragraph in which they appear. Moreover, they contain only a bare minimum of information and, if writers are not careful to place them close enough to their antecedents, their reference will not be clear to readers.

A second kind of pronoun reference word, which appears twice in the paragraph above, is the "reflexive," which ends in -self or -selves. Reflexives are even more limited in that they refer to a word within the same sentence.

In example 3, the reflexive herself shows an abrupt focusing of attention on the wordGermany, meaning that now Germany (and not the other countries) was suffering severe losses. In spoken English, the same effect could be achieved by simply stressing the word with one's voice.

A more frequent use of reflexive pronouns is to show that the subject of a sentence performs an action on itself, as in example 6, where the reflexive pronoun themselves refers to the wordpeople.

Noun Phrases as Reference Words

A "noun phrase" is simply a noun including any modifier such as an "adjective" or an "article." For example, people, the people, and the friendly people are all noun phrases. In contrast to pronouns, noun phrase reference words can carry more precise information, making it easier for the reader to follow them. As such, they may jump one or two paragraph boundaries to find their antecedents.

The most frequent noun phrase reference words are general words and "superordinates" that refer to more specific items in the text, as in the examples below:

Example 2: the continent refers to Europe.

Example 4: losses refers to Allied bombing raids and the destruction of German cities, farms, industries, and transportation systems.

Example 5: these essentials refers to food, water, and fuel.

Example 7: damage refers to bombing raids destroying 70% of Berlin and leaving it in ruins.

Example 9: the city refers to Berlin.

Example 11: vermin refers to rats, fleas, and roaches.

Example 12: conditions refers to the information in the whole bottom half of the paragraph.

Other Parts of Speech as Reference Words
The remaining reference words in the example paragraph above are the following:

Example 8: The "possessive adjective" its refers to the wordBerlin (or more accurately, its possessive form Berlin's).

Example 10: The short "locational adverb" there stands for in Berlin.

Example 12: The possessive adjective their stands for the possessive form of the word people(people's).

Reference words can be other parts of speech, idioms, and phrases, as well. You will come across more examples of them in other sections of this module.

http://www.rit.edu/~w-sea/referencewords/refw01intro.html