Referential Phrases

shegotit

Can someone explain the concepts of referential phrases. I have now watched the video twice and I am still not understanding what it is.

BinghamtonDave

Lets say I said this:
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the pound-for-pound greatest boxer to ever live. He's more defensively skilled than anyone who has ever laced up a pair of boxing gloves.

In sentence two, instead of saying "Floyd Mayweather Jr." again, I simply said "He's." This is an example of a referential phrase: "he's" is referencing Floyd Mayweather Jr. It might be helpful to think of this as a "call back." Sentence two is calling back upon sentence 1.

On the LSAT, we have to keep track of what precisely is being referenced when we are told information.

So here is another example:
The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion of 1987 was one of the most bizarre examples of a live television hacking in American history. Nevertheless, modern day television technology makes this event unlikely to occur again.

Not knowing the specifics of anything I just wrote, we can pull apart these sentences and look for their referential phrasing: "this event" is referential phrasing for: "The Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion." We can be unclear with what precisely is going on, but still be able to follow a general outline of the argument.

Moving forward, it might be helpful to keep a log of referential phrasing you come across on LR questions. It happens also on RC.

David
PS: you actually used referential phrasing in your question: "...understanding what it is."

shegotit

Thank you for the explanation! Are referential phrases pronouns?