English · Exam Skills and Methodology

Reference-word resolution (it/they/that/which/this)

Find exactly what it, they, that, which and this point back to

  • Foreign languages essential
  • Literature and philosophy essential
  • Experimental sciences essential
  • Mathematics essential
  • Engineering essential
  • Management and economics essential

6 minutes

The academic content is in Arabic, as at the BAC and as in the app.

What the syllabus expects from you

  • Identifying what a pronoun or connector (it/they/that/which/this) refers back to in the text

The method

  1. Read backward from the reference word to the nearest matching noun/idea, then check number/gender agreement

The common mistakes

  • Picking the nearest noun by proximity instead of by actual referent
  • Ignoring number agreement (they→plural antecedent)

The kind of exercise that comes up at the BAC

  • Reference-word block easy

    3 underlined reference words in the text → state what each refers to

From the lesson

Read this short story closely. One small word near the end is doing a big job.

The vocabulary

  • refer to (يشير إلى)
  • antecedent (المرجع)

Builds on