Noun Phrase Appositives: A Different Approach

Different subjects have unique ways of expressing the world. In every academic discipline, a variety of symbols and equations are useful in communicating ideas. For example in math: 0 x ____ = 0

The same is true in writing! Some symbols and “equations” are important to know to help us organize our thoughts and ideas in meaningful ways. What symbols or equations can you think of in English?

Here are a few important symbols:

Noun Phrase Appositives Noun phrase appositives are one of the important formulas in English. What are they and what do they do?

NPA= A noun or noun phrase that modifies another noun.

One common error with NPAs 1.My car, an old Ford Mustang, is like the one in The Outsiders. 2.My car, old and dingy, is a Ford Mustang. 3.My car is an old and dingy Ford Mustang.

Remember: Make sure your NPA is in the form of a noun or noun phrase!

Whiteboard Exercise The following are sentences or parts of sentences from S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. Please write down the noun phrase appositive in each sentence on your whiteboard. Please work independently and make sure your Emperor or Empress is awake and in charge. We’ll do the first one together. Be careful! It’s tricky! (Hint: One of these sentences does not contain a NPA.)

The Outsiders (Pages 3 and 4) “…Two-Bit Matthews—one of our gang—would have come to get me in his car if I would have asked him…” Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

The Outsiders (Page 20) “We crossed Sutton and cut around behind Spencer’s Special, the discount house, and chased two junior-high kids across a field…” Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

The Outsiders (Page 25) “We had picked up two girls, classy ones at that.” Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

The Outsiders (Page 36) The Socs had everything— good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs… Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

The Outsiders (Page 2) “I’m not sure how you spell it, but it’s the abbreviation for the Socials, the jet set, the West-side rich kids.” Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

The Outsiders (Page 21) “They were tuff-looking girls—dressed sharp and really good-looking.” Please write down the NPA on your whiteboard.

So why use NPAs in our writing? Please work with a partner to combine the following sentences using NPAs. 1. The detective always caught the thief. The detective’s name was Lola. 2. The famous portrait was once stolen. The portrait’s title was The Mona Lisa. 3. Ms. Lomax ate her lunch at Sol Food. Sol Food is her favorite restaurant. Her lunch was the vegetarian sandwich.

Later today, please add a NPA to your fictional narrative. Noun Phrase Appositives are fabulous for characterization! Remember: NPAs take the form of nouns and/or noun phrases.