This lesson is to help you recognise and practice references in complex texts.
There are a number of ways we can refer again to information that appeared earlier in the text, without repeating the same word.
- One of these is to use it:
- I’ve just started at a new school and I’m enjoying it a lot.
- It can also be used at the start of a sentence, as the subject, when the real subject is an infinitive or -ing form:
- It won’t take very long to finish the meal. (= to finish the meal won’t take long)
- Be careful, however, as it can also appear in subject position as a pronoun referring to information in the previous sentence, or even earlier in the text:
- The hurricane blew in to the east coast with devastating force. It (=the hurricane) damaged thousands of homes and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.
- It can also be used to refer to whole phrases, sentences or ideas:
- I finished my degree and started my new job straight away and I am finding it all a bit strange. (it = the transition from university to working life)
- Noun phrases can also be used to refer back to information earlier in the text, sometimes very complex pieces of information:
- The easternmost part of the island, where the poorest section of the population lives, and which had already suffered serious flooding, took the full force of the storm. There were very few undamaged properties left standing. The area (= the easternmost part of the island) is still partially underwater.