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Learn about appositive phrases, essential vs. nonessential appositives, and how to use commas properly in sentences containing appositives. Explore examples for a better understanding!
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Appositive Phrases An appositive is a noun or noun substitute set beside another noun or pronoun to describe or identify it.
Use paired commas to separate nonessential appositives and appositive phrases from the rest of the sentence. If an appositive merely adds information and could be eliminated without changing the meaning of the sentence, it is nonessential and should be set off with paired commas.
Sacajawea, a Shoshone woman, was a skillful guide for Lewis and Clark on their explorations in the Louisiana Territory. From Caught’ya: Don Pedro and two of his gallants, Claudio, a stalwart stripling from Florence, Italy, and Benedict of Padua, Italy, were returning home from the war.
In addition to his dulcet, virtuous daughter, Leonato was also rearinghis only niece, the witty Beatrice.Curio, the bold page, asked his sovereign, “Wouldn’t you like to go hunting, my lord.”
Mrs. Kiester’s son John loves to tease his mother.There are no commas to set off this appositive because Mrs. Kiester has more than one son. The name is necessary to determine to which son the sentence refers. Technically, this is called a restrictive modifier.
If Mrs. Kiester has only one son, the comma is needed because the information is not necessary. This is called a non-restrictive modifier.
From Caught’ya:She was as caustic as her cousinHero was dulcet.Being a romantic man, Duke Orsino expounded to his page Curio on the emotions that the music evoked.
