Appositives Appositives give information about nouns or pronouns. An appositive is a noun or pronoun placed next to another noun or pronoun to identify, rename, or explain the preceding word. Appositives are very useful in writing because they give additional information without using many words. Ron Burns, a dentist, was elected to the City Council.

Appositive Phrase An appositive with its own modifiers creates an appositive phrase. An appositive phrase is a noun or pronoun with modifiers. It is place next to a noun or pronoun and adds information or details. The appositive phrase can be identified because it always begins with an article, a noun, or a pronoun. The noun or pronoun in an appositive phrase always follows the noun or pronoun that the phrase modifies.

The modifiers in the phrase can be adjectives or adjective phrases. San Juan de los Caballeros, the Spanish capital of the New Mexico territory, was moved to a new site in 1610. The painting, a mural in many bright colors, highlights the entrance.

Appositives and appositive phrases can also be compound. Volunteers, boys or girls, are wanted. These poems, “The Sea Gypsy” and “Before the Squall,” are about a love for the sea.

Bibliography Alfieri, Catherine. "Nounsense." Monroe County Women's Disability Network. Monroe County Women's Disability Network. Sept. 2008 <http://www.mcwdn.org/grammar/endsf.html>. Carroll, Joyce A., Edward E. Wilson, and Gary Forlini. Prentice Hall Writing and Grammar. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Royster, Jacqueline J., and Mark Lester. Writer's Choice Grammar Workbooks : Teacher's Wraparound Edition. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1996.