Anaphoric pronouns refer "back" to an antecedent in the text.
Examples
- After Mary had sat down at her desk she started writing.
- When Jim arrived he looked tired.
Contrast with other kinds of reference, such as:
- He's good at French, is our Fred. (Here he and our refer forward to something in the text. This is sometimes called cataphoric reference).
- They are digging up the road again. (Here they does not refer to anything in the text, but to something outside. Instead, it is used vaguely in the sense of the powers that be. This is often called exophoric reference).
Note that sometimes there are ambiguities relating to the antecedent. For example, "On receiving a new credit card, you should sign it at once". The pronoun you may mean either you (the reader) or a vague one (anyone).