Passage Summary: Ashley notes that words like 'of' don't point to actual things like 'shirts' do. Joshua agrees, but he takes it a step further by claiming that if a word doesn't point to a thing, it has no meaning at all and we should stop using it.

Reasoning: Ashley claims that certain words do not refer to physical objects; Joshua agrees and concludes that because these words lack reference, they are meaningless and should be discarded.

Analysis: The focus here is on Joshua’s leap in logic. He equates Ashley’s observation about a lack of 'reference' with a total lack of 'meaning.' To Joshua, if a word doesn't point to a physical object, it serves no purpose. Look for an answer choice that captures this specific interpretation—that Joshua believes 'referring to something' is a necessary condition for a word to have meaning.