Appositive Phrase

Appositive Phrase Adapted from Grammar for Middle School: A Sentence Combining Approach Don and Jenny Killgallon

Appositive Phrase Definition • A noun phrase identifying a person, place, or thing named in a sentence. • Appositive often begin with the words a, an, or the. • They always answer one of these questions: • Who is he? Who is she? Who are they? (people) • What is it? What are they? (places or things)

ExamplesIdentifying peopleDo not write this example down on your work sheet! • Don Gross was a tough guy, an ex-Marine who had never lost his military manner.– Michael Crichton, Prey

ExamplesIdentifying placesDo not write this example down on your work sheet! • Once they were in her office, a small room with a large, welcoming fire, Professor McGonagall motioned to Harry and Hermione to sit down. – J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

ExamplesIdentifying thingsDo not write this example down on your work sheet! • When it was quite late, he murmured something, went to a closet, and drew forth an evil weapon, a long yellowish tube ending in bellows and a trigger. – Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Single Appositive ExamplesBeginning placementWrite this example down as the example sentence that uses a single appositive phrase. A balding, smooth-faced man, he could have been anywhere between forty and sixty. - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Single Appositive ExamplesMiddle placementDo not write this example down on your work sheet! Lou Epstein, the oldest, shortest, and baldest of the three Epstein brothers, barely looked up from the cash register when Alfred entered the store. – Robert Lipsyte, The Contender

Single Appositive ExamplesEnd placementDo not write this example down on your work sheet! In the locker room, I packed for the trip to New Orleans, the road-trip that would change my life and destiny as an athlete forever. – Pat Conroy, My Losing Season

Multiple Appositive ExamplesDo not write this example down on your work sheet! In New York, the most important state in any Presidential race, and a state where politics were particularly sensitive to the views of various nationality and minority groups, Democrats were joyous and Republicans angry and gloomy. – John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

Multiple Appositive ExamplesWrite this sentence down on your worksheet as a sentence that uses multiple appositive phrases. The dawn came quickly now, a wash, a glow, a lightness, and then an explosion of fire, as the sun arose out of the Gulf. – John Steinbeck, The Pearl

Multiple Appositive ExamplesDo not write this example down on your work sheet! Beneath the dragon, under all his limbs, and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light.–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Practice 1: MATCHING Match the appositive phrase with the sentences. Write out each sentence, inserting the appositive phrases and underlining them. • _______, he reminded me of a baby bird. – Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring 4. _____, the North Star would soon be visible and would point the way when the birds had all gone South. – Jean Craighead George, Julie of the Wolves 2. Tom Grieves, ______, named the birds Peter Soil and Maggie Mess. – Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen 5. What attracted Mrs. Frisby’s attention the most was a box in one corner of the room, _____ . – Robert C. O’Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH 3. From every hill slope came the trickle of running water, _______. – Jack London, The Call of the Wild A) a box with dials and a small light shining on the front B) the music of unseen fountains D) the guidepost of her ancestors C) a bald little man E)the handyman who had to clean up the cage

Practice 2: UNSCRAMBLING TO IMITATE • Step One: In the model and the scrambled list, identify the appositive phrase • Step Two: Next, unscramble and write out the sentence parts to imitate the model • Step Three: Finally, write your own imitation of the model and identify the appositive phrase MODEL: Fudge, a portly little man in a long, pinstriped cloak, looked cold and exhausted. - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban • But she was grateful. • She seemed surprised. • Nora was a sickly gray-haired woman in a shabby blue blouse.

Practice 3: COMBINING TO IMITATE • Step One: In the model, identify the appositive phrase. • Step Two: Next, combine the list of sentences to imitate the model. • Step Three: Finally, write your own imitation of the model and identify the appositive phrase. MODEL: Gilly gave little William Ernest the most fearful face in her collection of scary looks, a cross between Count Dracula and Godzilla. – Katherine Paterson, The Great Gilly Hopkins • Stephen gave his big sister Karen... • Some tasty candies. • They were from his birthday party at the mall. • They were an assortment of creams and caramels.

Practice 4: EXPANDING • Below are sentences with the appositive phrases omitted. • For each blank, add an appositive phrase, blending your content and style with the rest of the sentence. • Finally he found what he was looking for, _________. - Hal Borland, When the Legends Die • ________, he took little interest in the troublesome things, preferring to remain on good terms with everyone. - Mildred D. Taylor, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry • He could see the furniture in his room, ________, and he got up and went downstairs in his pajamas to see if he was right about what would be waiting there. – Lois Duncan, A Gift of Magic

Closure • What does an appositive phrase do for a sentence? • With your partner, write your answer on the lines in complete sentences.

Appositive Phrase