Unit 1b Book

While reading the article on p. 6 of your book, you may have noticed that it is full of words like “this” or “that”. These are reference words used to substitute for phrases or sentences mentioned previously, so that they do not need to be repeated. This strategy makes the text much better in terms of stylistics.  Do this task to see if you can find what these reference words refer to in the text about smart wells. However, before doing this task, make sure you understand the difference between this/that and it in terms of referencing. Here are two examples:

Example 1:

A sentence: He invited her to a pub.

She thought it was very nice. (it = the pub, i.e. it refers to just one word in a sentence or to a noun phrase)

She thought this/that was very nice. (this/that = refers to the whole statement/sentence, i.e. the fact that he invited her)

Example 2:

A sentence: Special imaging software generates detailed computer models of underground geology and reservoirs.

It has been developed by the technicians of the Shell company. (i.e. the special imaging software)

This enables drills to hit a target far underground that is less than two metres across. (i.e. the fact that the software generates detailed computer models of underground geology and reservoirs)