Appositives

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Appositives

• Positively Descriptive

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An appositive is a noun or pronoun placed beside
another noun or pronoun to identify or describe
it.
What is it?
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Some Examples
The cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person
in space. The noun Yuri Gagarin identifies the
noun cosmonauts . I chose one person, her, to
organize the volunteers. The pronoun her refers
to the noun person. NOTICE commas set off
nonessential appositives and nonessential
appositive phrases.
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Essential VS Nonessential
My sister, Lana, has blond hair. The writer has
only one sister. The appositive is not essential
to identify the sister, so it is set off by
commas. My sister Lana has blond hair. The
writer has more than one sister. The appositive
is necessary to tell which sister is meant.
Because this information is essential to the
meaning of the sentence it is not set off by
commas.
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Commas are usually used with appositives that
refer to proper nouns. EXAMPLE Rachel
Carson, a biologist and writer, published the
book Silent Spring in 1962. The nouns biologist
and writer describe the proper noun Rachel
Carson. The noun Silent Spring identifies the
common noun book.
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An appositive phrase consists of an appositive
and its modifiers.
Appositive Phrase
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Some Examples
Officer Webb, one of the security guards, caught
the burglar. The adjective phrase of the
security guards modifies the appositive
one. Leonardo da Vinci, an Italian painter
known for his artworks, was also an architect,
engineer, and scientist. The article an, the
adjective Italian, and the participial phrase
known for his artworks modify the appositive
painter.