Appositives and Appositive Phrases Essential Question: Why do we want to use Appositives and Appositive Phrases in our writing?

Definition An appositive is: A noun or pronoun placed after another noun or pronoun to: identify, rename, or explain the preceding word.

Appositive Phrase An appositive phrase is: It stands next to a noun or pronoun and adds information or details.

Examples of appositives The painter Pablo Picasso lived in Spain. I want to visit Spain’s famous museum, The Prado. The painting Guernica impressed my father

Sentence Variety Why do we use them? Keeps your writing from being boring!

Harriet Where do we place them? Beginning (Sentence Openers) One of eleven brothers and sisters, Harriet was a moody, willful child. Langston Hughes, “Road to Freedom” Whom does the appositive rename? Harriet

A man Where do we place them? Middle (Subject-Verb Splits) A man, a weary old pensioner with a bald dirty head and a stained brown corduroy waistcoat, appeared at the door of a small gate lodge. Gordon Parks, “My Mother’s Dream for Me” Whom does the appositive rename? A man

Them Where do we place them? End (Sentence Closers) The boy looked at them, big black ugly insects. Doris Lessing, African Stories Whom does the appositive rename? Them

Appositives and appositive phrases CAN be compound The two settings, a city in England and a city in Russia, are contrasted in the book.

An appositive is NOT a prepositional phrase The boy with the broken arm is my brother. The boy, the one with the broken arm, is my brother.

Commas and appositives An essential (or restrictive) appositive gives information that is needed to identify the noun or pronoun that comes before it. Because this information is necessary, no commas are needed. Ex. The band Journey was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. (Without the name Journey, I could be talking about lots of different bands; adding this restrictive appositive provides necessary information to the meaning of my sentence.)

Commas and appositives A nonessential (or nonrestrictive) appositive adds extra information about a noun or pronoun whose meaning is already clear. Because it is not necessary, a nonessential appositive phrase must be set off from the rest of the sentence with commas. Ex. Journey, a band from my childhood, was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. (In this case, the essential information is outside of the appositive phrase; the phrase I added in bold simply specifies and gives extra detail about the noun it modifies.)

How do I Know? A good way to check if a phrase is essential or nonessential is to say the sentence aloud without the appositive in it. If all necessary information for understanding is present without the appositive phrase, it is nonessential. If the sentence “loses” important meaning, then the phrase is essential.

Practice 1. San Francisco, home of the famed cable cars, was named for St. Francis. 2. Pennsylvania is named for William Penn, one of its founders. 3. American Indian place names abound in Oklahoma, home of the Choctaw and other peoples. 4. Montreal, the name of a city in Quebec Province, means “Mount Royal.”