literally lost in this section and got everyone of them wrong. Not sure how one word is referring to the whole sentence in the last example, and not just traditions. I guess we allow the modifiers into the reference?
In example #1, I still believe that "its" should be replaced with "their", despite our grammar intuition and experience. I feel like this would help clear confusion among some students who may mistake the "its" for something singular like "sand".
@GoldenRetrieverLitigation I think it is the lack of context. It is like someone somone saying " John and David picked apples yesterday. They are now eating the apples they picked". THEY is the referntial becasue without the first sentence clarifying or name dropping who is eating the apples (THEY= David and John) we would not have any idea. The THEY is refencing the people who actually did the act. (Hope this helps)
Referential: are words or phrases that stand in for something stated elsewhere in the text (usually earlier).
Example #1:“Botanists at the Ben Gurion University recently discovered plants that can extract phosphorus from the sand covering its leaves.” “They are conducting experiments to better understand the mechanism which enables such extraction.”
→“They” is a referential word, and in most cases, it’s simply standing in place for something else that appeared earlier in the text.
→ In the second sentence, “such extractions” is a referential phrase. This is because it’s a pointer, it’s just standing in for something already previously stated.
→“It’s” is also a referential it’s derived from the previous word it’s referring to which are plants.
The “referencial” is the pointer, the “referent” is the target, it’s the thing that’s being pointed to.
Example #2:“Some religious leaders who undertake reforms do so out of an intrinsic commitment to philosophical ideals.”
→ “do so” is the referential word in this sentence. If you want to understand what “do so” means, you have to look back at the earlier part of the text. They are pointing to "undertake reform”.
Example #3:“A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.”
→ “It’s support base” is a referential. It points to the authoritarian regime.
Who’s support base? The authoritarian regime is the support base. In this rare case the referential is forward in the text not back.
Example #4:“African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil. This is consistent with the apparently dual aspects of the blues and spirituals.”
→ “This is” is a referential word. → it points to the entire sentence preceding it. It consists of a parent duality.
Recap:
Referential are words or phrases that reveal their meaning by pointing to another set of words (which we call the referent). They often point backwards but they can point forward as well. They can point to things or to actions. They can also point to entire sentences or paragraphs. Cultivate a habit of explicitly identifying referential and linking them back to their referents. Otherwise, you will get lost in the text.
Feedback on this lesson - I pretty much always watch the video before reading the text, but in this case the answers to the practice were spoiled for me by the video. Might be nice to separate the practice from the main lesson video, or put the video at the end in this case.
Can someone please explain what this sentence even means, "African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil."
@ArmaniHunter05 I think what it is saying is that the African American folk tradition does not see "good and evil" as black and white. They recognize that the two concepts can overlap and have nuances.
@BraedenB It seems to me like it is less important to be able to name the specific grammatical category of a word or phrase than it is to understand the sentence as a whole. Don't get too caught up in the grammatical jargon.
@BraedenB Not everything will help the same amount. Right now they're giving you tools to use. Some will work for you some might not. It's just about allowing them to present ideas and things that may help you.
Some religious leaders who undertake reforms do so out of an intrinsic commitment to philosophical ideals.
Referential = do so
Referent = undertake reforms
A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.
Referential = its support base
Referent = the authoritarian regime
African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil. This is consistent with the apparently dual aspect of the blues and spirituals.
referential = this
referent = African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil.
... Have "authoritarian regime" not noted, it would have been logical to assume "democracy" as the reference point... however, since "authoritarian regime" was noted, "its" has a stronger correlation to "authoritarian regime" than "democracy." I think we have to remember to invoke past lectures that talks about "most likely to strengthen an argument" etc.
A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable. ---->
A turning point came when people realized that the regime is dispensable.
Even breaking the sentence down to its kernel, I'm still missing how its refers to the regime instead of society or the democratic turning point :(
@monmon It might help u to ask questions like what/which support base? What makes sense/what fits into the context of the sentence? I was initially confused by this too but try rereading the sentence to understand what it is telling you. It's not telling us that privileged people in society were a part of a democratic support base, or that privileged people were a part of a society. I don't know if this helps but this was my thought process. Think of the sentence as a whole.
I got sentence 2 off the jump, but I saw a lot of people questioning it, so it made me go back and consider why I understood immediately that "its support base" was referential to the authoritarian regime and not "society".
The phrase is “part of its support base” ... ask: "support base of what?"
A regime has a support base (people who politically support it).
Society does not meaningfully have a “support base” — it is the broader population. It is the people.
The later clause confirms this: they realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable. That’s the thing they had been supporting and then abandoned.
@mibuch I read this as "support base" for the transition to democracy. The privileged people in society were part of the support base for transitioning to democracy, once they (the privileged people) realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.
How can you be confident that "its support base" doesn't refer to "society." Seems ambiguous, what tell you it's the regime they they are the support base of and not society? Semantically, both work, of course.
How important are these concepts to the LSATs? I feel like I generally understand the sentence just by reading it and breaking it down this way isn't really helping me
@astrysk I think if you understand the sentences just by reading them, and you have strong reading comprehension, etc. then you're probably good. Breaking it down into these parts might actually cause more confusion. (And I say this as an English tutor.)
For me the best way that I understood this is that the referential is the phrase that is in place for another phrase, the referent is the phrase that is being referred to. How do you know something is the a referential? You know it is a referential if it is a very broad term that is vague. You need the referent to understand what this broad and vague term is talking about.
The easiest way I could describe referential words/phrases would be: referentials replace specific terms with vague terms; hence you have to refer to the previous or upcoming sentence(s) to understand what they are referring to...
P.S.: Bonus points if you catch the referential ;).
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119 comments
literally lost in this section and got everyone of them wrong. Not sure how one word is referring to the whole sentence in the last example, and not just traditions. I guess we allow the modifiers into the reference?
Ya, I'm lost now
I find this one of the most challenging parts of my so-far learning!
Not important, but inside family joke here "Who are they?" lol. Hits big
Free Palestine Ben Gurion University built on stolen Palestinian land!
@JeninZayed from the river to the sea!
@JeninZayed real af
@JeninZayed Free Palestine!
@JeninZayed Was not prepared for that jump scare lol, I heard the name and immediately got annoyed!
In example #1, I still believe that "its" should be replaced with "their", despite our grammar intuition and experience. I feel like this would help clear confusion among some students who may mistake the "its" for something singular like "sand".
A referential is basically context, right?
@GoldenRetrieverLitigation I think it is the lack of context. It is like someone somone saying " John and David picked apples yesterday. They are now eating the apples they picked". THEY is the referntial becasue without the first sentence clarifying or name dropping who is eating the apples (THEY= David and John) we would not have any idea. The THEY is refencing the people who actually did the act. (Hope this helps)
This is incredibly helpful for deciphering a buttload of text. I’ve definitely found I get information overload and end up losing the key points.
Okay this is more up my alley, I know I'm about to get blind-sighted soon.
This is such a good lesson. I don't think I've heard term "referential" used before. It helps a lot for understanding dense text.
I just got lost in the
saucetextReferential: are words or phrases that stand in for something stated elsewhere in the text (usually earlier).
Example #1:“Botanists at the Ben Gurion University recently discovered plants that can extract phosphorus from the sand covering its leaves.” “They are conducting experiments to better understand the mechanism which enables such extraction.”
→“They” is a referential word, and in most cases, it’s simply standing in place for something else that appeared earlier in the text.
→ In the second sentence, “such extractions” is a referential phrase. This is because it’s a pointer, it’s just standing in for something already previously stated.
→“It’s” is also a referential it’s derived from the previous word it’s referring to which are plants.
The “referencial” is the pointer, the “referent” is the target, it’s the thing that’s being pointed to.
Example #2:“Some religious leaders who undertake reforms do so out of an intrinsic commitment to philosophical ideals.”
→ “do so” is the referential word in this sentence. If you want to understand what “do so” means, you have to look back at the earlier part of the text. They are pointing to "undertake reform”.
Example #3:“A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.”
→ “It’s support base” is a referential. It points to the authoritarian regime.
Who’s support base? The authoritarian regime is the support base. In this rare case the referential is forward in the text not back.
Example #4:“African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil. This is consistent with the apparently dual aspects of the blues and spirituals.”
→ “This is” is a referential word. → it points to the entire sentence preceding it. It consists of a parent duality.
Recap:
Referential are words or phrases that reveal their meaning by pointing to another set of words (which we call the referent). They often point backwards but they can point forward as well. They can point to things or to actions. They can also point to entire sentences or paragraphs. Cultivate a habit of explicitly identifying referential and linking them back to their referents. Otherwise, you will get lost in the text.
Referentials are words or phrases that reveal their meaning by pointing to another set of words (which we call the referent).
They often point backwards but they can point forward as well.
They can point to things, actions, entire sentences, or paragraphs.
In this passage, identify the referential and the referent:
They = Referential
Referentials = Referent
Tehe.
Feedback on this lesson - I pretty much always watch the video before reading the text, but in this case the answers to the practice were spoiled for me by the video. Might be nice to separate the practice from the main lesson video, or put the video at the end in this case.
Can someone please explain what this sentence even means, "African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil."
@ArmaniHunter05 I think what it is saying is that the African American folk tradition does not see "good and evil" as black and white. They recognize that the two concepts can overlap and have nuances.
@puddingeveryday Thank you
really hope this grammar stuff isnt too important in scoring high or its truly over for my chungus self
@BraedenB It seems to me like it is less important to be able to name the specific grammatical category of a word or phrase than it is to understand the sentence as a whole. Don't get too caught up in the grammatical jargon.
@BraedenB Not everything will help the same amount. Right now they're giving you tools to use. Some will work for you some might not. It's just about allowing them to present ideas and things that may help you.
Thanks for saying that. I’ve been able to understand every lesson except this one. My mind just can’t grasp it- or it may be too early in the morning!
Some religious leaders who undertake reforms do so out of an intrinsic commitment to philosophical ideals.
Referential = do so
Referent = undertake reforms
A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.
Referential = its support base
Referent = the authoritarian regime
African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil. This is consistent with the apparently dual aspect of the blues and spirituals.
referential = this
referent = African American folk tradition does not sharply differentiate reality into irreconcilable dichotomies between good and evil.
... Have "authoritarian regime" not noted, it would have been logical to assume "democracy" as the reference point... however, since "authoritarian regime" was noted, "its" has a stronger correlation to "authoritarian regime" than "democracy." I think we have to remember to invoke past lectures that talks about "most likely to strengthen an argument" etc.
A turning point in the transition to democracy came when privileged people in society who had been part of its support base realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable. ---->
A turning point came when people realized that the regime is dispensable.
Even breaking the sentence down to its kernel, I'm still missing how its refers to the regime instead of society or the democratic turning point :(
@monmon It might help u to ask questions like what/which support base? What makes sense/what fits into the context of the sentence? I was initially confused by this too but try rereading the sentence to understand what it is telling you. It's not telling us that privileged people in society were a part of a democratic support base, or that privileged people were a part of a society. I don't know if this helps but this was my thought process. Think of the sentence as a whole.
I got sentence 2 off the jump, but I saw a lot of people questioning it, so it made me go back and consider why I understood immediately that "its support base" was referential to the authoritarian regime and not "society".
The phrase is “part of its support base” ... ask: "support base of what?"
A regime has a support base (people who politically support it).
Society does not meaningfully have a “support base” — it is the broader population. It is the people.
The later clause confirms this: they realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable. That’s the thing they had been supporting and then abandoned.
@mibuch I read this as "support base" for the transition to democracy. The privileged people in society were part of the support base for transitioning to democracy, once they (the privileged people) realized that the authoritarian regime is dispensable.
I found this sentence to be very cloudy
How can you be confident that "its support base" doesn't refer to "society." Seems ambiguous, what tell you it's the regime they they are the support base of and not society? Semantically, both work, of course.
How important are these concepts to the LSATs? I feel like I generally understand the sentence just by reading it and breaking it down this way isn't really helping me
@astrysk I think if you understand the sentences just by reading them, and you have strong reading comprehension, etc. then you're probably good. Breaking it down into these parts might actually cause more confusion. (And I say this as an English tutor.)
For me the best way that I understood this is that the referential is the phrase that is in place for another phrase, the referent is the phrase that is being referred to. How do you know something is the a referential? You know it is a referential if it is a very broad term that is vague. You need the referent to understand what this broad and vague term is talking about.
The easiest way I could describe referential words/phrases would be: referentials replace specific terms with vague terms; hence you have to refer to the previous or upcoming sentence(s) to understand what they are referring to...
P.S.: Bonus points if you catch the referential ;).
@PSERRACOSTA "refer to"
I went back to rewatch these a couple times. It makes all the difference. I feel like it helped me master it!