An reference that points to something which occurs later in the text is called what?

• A. Cataphoric reference
• B. Anaphoric reference
• C. Exophoric reference
• D. Deictic reference

Answer: (A)

Forward-looking references are cataphora: a referring expression points to something that will be named or introduced later in the discourse. In the example, the pronoun “he” points forward to John, who appears later in the sentence, so it’s a cataphoric reference. This is distinct from anaphora, where the reference goes backward to something already mentioned (for instance, “John arrived late. He apologized” where “he” refers to John). Exophoric references point outside the text to real-world context, like describing something visible in the scene, while deictic references (this/that, here/there) depend on the speaker’s situational context.