Appositives and Appositive Phrases

An appositive is a noun or pronoun that follows another noun or pronoun to identify or explain it. An appositive phrase is made up of an appositive and its modifiers.

If the appositive is just additional information (i.e., you could remove it from the sentence without any loss of meaning), then offset it from the remainder of the sentence using commas. For example:

Needs commas:

 Jane Smith, the woman who swam 100m in under a minute, wins the award for most improved swimmer.

 Peter Jones, the boy who plays goalkeeper for our village football team, has worked at his father's grocers for twenty years.

Does not need commas:

 The boy who broke the window is at the front door.

 The window that you cracked is over 300 years old.

 One word appositives generally don’t need commas. Remember: Extra information needs extra punctuation! Underline the appositive, punctuate it correctly (if needed), and write the noun to which the appositive refers in the blank.

1. Your friend Bill is in trouble.______

2. My brother's car a red convertible with bucket seats is the envy of my friends.______

3. The chief surgeon an expert in organ-transplant procedures took her nephew on a tour.______

4. Delaware the first state to ratify the U. S. Constitution is rich in history.______

5. A beautiful collie Skip was my favorite dog.______

6. John Kennedy the popular US president was known for his eloquent and inspirational speeches.______http://www.quia.com/cb/8095.html