Entities are the participants in facts (things and qualities in terms of Penman's Upper Model). Entities may be of two kinds: specific entities -- such as an individual jewel or person; and generic entities -- an entity representing some class of entities, such as Scottish jewellers, or art-deco brooches. Generic entities are treated essentially in the same way as specific entities in the text potential, for purposes such as the tracking of focus, anaphor generation, and so on.