Appositives

An appositive is a noun or pronoun that identifies or renames another noun or pronoun.

My teacher, Ms. Sickler, is from New York.
Appositive phrase
An appositive phrase consists of an appositive plus its modifiers.
- Richard, my brother, is taking me to the airport Friday afternoon.
- Dr.Smith, a well-known lecturer, will be speaking at the conference.
In the first sentence, the appositive ‘my brother’ renames Richard.
In the second example, the appositive ‘a well-known lecturer’ provides a description of
Dr.Smith.
- Ms. Suckler, my English teacher, is from New York.
Note: : Appositives or appositive phrases are not always in the middle of the sentence. They
can begin or end a sentence, too.
1- Mike, a new student, wanted to do his best.
2- A new student, Mike wanted to do his best.
3- We all greeted Mike, a new student.
More Appositives
Sometimes, appositives and appositive phrases begin with that is, that is to say, in other
words, such as, and for example, say, namely etc…
- Common flavors of ice cream, such as chocolate and vanilla, are her favorites.
- The winter months, for example, January and Februray, are the coldest.
- Two cities, Venice and Genoa, were great rivals at one time. (compound appositives)
- Any new car, whether a small compact or a fancy sport model, will be improvement
over this one.
- The principal, that is to say Mr.lee, refused to speak to the Press.
- Mr.Blair, that is ,the British Prime Minister, will be meeting the President this
afternoon.
- He was accused of being in possession of an offensive weapon, namely a large samuri
sword.
- We’d need quite a lot of money, say, at least S 20,000.
Another type of apposition involves the use of a prepositional phrase with the preposition of,
especially with place names:
- The city of New Orleans (the city= New Orleans)
- J M Barrie was born in the town of Kirriemuir in the country of Forfar.
There is no comma in appositions using of or with extraposition:
- They city of London .It is our duty to help others.
 Essential and Non-essential Appositives
Appositives may be considered essential or non-essential depending on the context.
Essential (no commas)
An essential appositive adds information that is ‘essential’ to the meaning of the sentence.
This information is vital in identifying the previous noun.
- Kurt Vonnegut’s book A Man without a Country was a compilation of his essays.
(Here, the book title is essential in establishing which book you are identifying)
Non-essential
A non-essential appositive adds more information about the previous noun;
However, this information is Not “essential” to the meaning of the sentence and is
considered additional.
- Kurt Vonnegut’s last book, A Man without a country, was a compilation of his
essays.
- Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, is often called US’s greatest inventor.
(here, the book title is considered an additional detail because it has already been identified
with words ‘last book.’
Note: They are set off with a comma, but occasionally are separated with a colon (:), round
brackets or dash (-).
- Peter (my mate from school) won the lottery.
- The car, an antique Stingray, cost ten thousand dollars.
- To the baseball game Roger brought all his goodies: balls, a glove, a hat and a sign.
- She took her medication-pain killers and cold medicine- and hid them in her suitcase.
We often use a dash to set off the sentence appositive:
- A pair of cardinals has set up housekeeping in our pine tree- an unexpected but
welcome event.