In English grammar, “anaphora” is the usage of a pronoun or linguistic unit to refer to another word. The adjective is anaphoric, and the phrase is well-known by the phrases anaphoric reference or backward anaphora. A word that gets its significance from a preceding word or phrase is known as an anaphor. The preceding word or phrase is known as the antecedent, referent, or head. Anaphora gets from the Greek word meaning “carrying up or back.” The word is pronounced “ah-NAF-oh-rah.”

Linguists use anaphora as a general term for both forward and backward reference. The phrase forward(s) anaphora is comparable to cataphora. Anaphora and cataphora are the two key types of endophora; that is, reference to an item within the content itself.