An anaphoric reference refers to something that occurred earlier in the text. Which example best illustrates this?

An anaphoric reference refers to something that occurred earlier in the text. Which example best illustrates this?

• A. Where's the towel? It is hanging on the line.
• B. THAT's what I want, a warm jumper.
• C. Take a look at THIS.
• D. I KNOW it's true.

Answer: (A)

Anaphoric reference is when a word points back to something already mentioned, linking ideas in a text. In this example, the word It refers to the towel that was mentioned earlier in the sentence: “Where’s the towel?” so It stands for that towel. This is a clear backward reference, making it a textbook case of anaphora. The other sentences use demonstratives or a generic subject without a concrete antecedent in the context, so they don’t show the same explicit link back to a preceding noun.

Anaphoric reference is when a word points back to something already mentioned, linking ideas in a text. In this example, the word It refers to the towel that was mentioned earlier in the sentence: “Where’s the towel?” so It stands for that towel. This is a clear backward reference, making it a textbook case of anaphora. The other sentences use demonstratives or a generic subject without a concrete antecedent in the context, so they don’t show the same explicit link back to a preceding noun.