Using Commas with Appositives & Interrupters

1. Using Commas with Appositives & Interrupters

2. Using Commas with Appositives & Interrupters • What is an appositive? • An appositive comes directly after a noun and renames it. • Miss Larson, our class tutor, really helped me improve my writing. (Miss Larson is the tutor.) • My favorite restaurant, Taco John’s, is located on Medary Avenue. (Taco John’s is the restaurant.) • Ana, one of my 5th grade students, was absent today. (Ana is the student.) • My English teacher, Miss Moran, assigns a lot of homework. (Miss Moran is the English teacher.)

3. Appositives & Interrupters cont. • What is an interrupter? • An interrupter is a word, phrase, or clause that breaks the flow of a sentence but doesn’t affect its meaning. • Today’s test, if you must know, was long. • Some of the students, by the way, did not do well. • Many students, incidentally, received a better grade because they studied. • Others, on the other hand, received lower grades because they didn’t take time to review the material before the test.

4. Appositives & Interrupters cont. • We use commas around appositives and interrupters to tell our readers that these elements provide extra information but are not essential to the meaning of a sentence. • Wherever these elements fall in the sentence, they should be offset with commas. • By the way most students came prepared for class. • Most students by the way came prepared for class. • Most students came prepared for class by the way.

5. Appositives & Interrupters cont. • Without the interrupter, the remaining words make up a complete sentence: • English, in fact, is my best subject because I love to read and write. (with the interrupter) • English, in fact, is my best subject because I love to read and write. (eliminate the interrupter & commas) • English is my best subject because I love to read and write. (without the interrupter)

6. Sample Sentences • Suzanne, of course, is late again! • Yesterday, as a matter of fact, she was twenty minutes late for our meeting. • My friend, Suzanne, made me upset. • She told me, by the way, that she’d be on time tomorrow. • I hope, for the sake of our friendship, that she is true to her word.

7. Combining Sentences with Appositives • Short choppy sentences can be combined into one long sentence by using appositives: A farmer has cows. He has 30 of them. His name is Tom. He loves to drink milk. A farmer with 30 cows, Tom loves to drink milk.

8. Combining Sentences with Appositives Tom has a favorite cow. She is black and white. Her name is Bess. Tom’s favorite cow, Bess, is black and white.

9. Combining Sentences with Appositives The class put on a play. The play was called “Our Town.” It was written by Thornton Wilder. The class play, “Our Town,” was written by Thornton Wilder.

10. Combining Sentences with Appositives I have a bike. It is purple. It has a flat tire. My bike, the purple one, has a flat tire.

11. Combining Sentences with Appositives Samantha has one brother. His name is Oscar. He is in first grade. Samantha’s only brother, Oscar, is in first grade.