WRITING

Referents are important to master in your writing. You need to find a range of ways to refer to the subject of your sentence and to keep it clear exactly what you mean. Subjects should continue throughout the writing and be clear all the way through. Pronouns form important links throughout your writing and, if used correctly, help the reader to follow your meaning. They are important referents, but not the only ones you can use.

Have a look at the example below. Notice how the subject are referred to in different ways.

Saturday 3 October, 2015 was a big day in Melbourne. It was Grand Final Day for the Australian Football League. Like all big events, it include a lot of ceremony and a lot of entertainment before the game began. Veteran Australian singer Kate Ceberano was a star attraction. Her job was to sing the Australian National Anthem just before the main event began. But, unfortunately she messed up the lyrics, and interestingly she’s not the first artist to mess up. At the 2011 Superbowl in the US Christina Aguilera messed up when she sang the wrong lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner, America’s National Anthem.

This is a line from an article about the story. It is talking about other entertainers at the game; “The sequins on Chris Isaak‘s suit were louder than the crowd, who were still filtering into the G when he started his set with Great Balls of Fire, Wicked Game and Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing.”