Antecedent:
The word, phrase, or clause referred to by a pronoun.

Example:
"Mr. Gore was a grave man, and, though a young man, he indulged in no jokes."
-Frederick Douglass An American Slave


Explanation:
The author uses Mr. Gore as an antecedent to make the sentence less confusing. The purpose of using an antecedent makes the sentence more professional and sophisticated and it allows you to know what the pronoun has to do with. In this case the antecedent is not that significant, it just allows the reader to know who the person that is being described is.