In linguistics, a cataphora is a reference to a noun that appears before the noun it refers to. This contrasts with anaphora, where the reference comes after the noun.
For example, in the sentence, “Though he enjoyed the entrée, John didn’t like the appetizers,” the word “he” is a cataphora because it refers to “John,” which appears later in the sentence. Cataphora is used to create suspense or to focus attention on the noun that follows.