1. Appositives “My friend, Chuckie, has bright red hair.”

2. Definition An appositive is a noun or pronoun — often with modifiers — set beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.

3. Appositives An appositive phrase usually follows the word it explains or identifies, but it may also precede it.

4. Examples The Beatles, the influential pop band, wrote many hit songs. The influential pop band The Beatles wrote many famous hit songs. Question: Why are we missing commas in the second sentence?

5. Examples The Beatles, the influential pop band, wrote many famous songs The influential pop band The Beatles wrote many famous songs Answer: Here we do not put commas around the appositive because it is essential information. Without the appositive, the sentence would be, "The influential pop band wrote many famous songs. " We wouldn't know who the the influential band is without the appositive!

6. Another Example Paul McCarty the Beatles singer was quite different from Paul McCartney the Wings singer. We see two appositives here but again no commas. Why not? Same reason as before. They are essential information. Read the sentences without the appositives. Weird, yes?

7. Even more examples! Tom Cruise, before he went crazy, was a really likable guy. Spam, the popular Hawaiian treat, isn’t well- liked in Arizona. The new kid Ricky is really good at World of Warcraft.

8. Where are the appositives? My dad, the firefighter, is scared of lightning. Pepsi-Cola, a delicious beverage, is much sweeter than Coke. The AMC show Breaking Bad is no longer on the air Your friend Lisa thinks I’m cute.