Why you need to embrace "Appositive" vibes

A grammar post about what appositives are and how to use them in your writing

For this Grammar Tip Tuesday, I decided to spread some "appositive" vibes and give those wanting to improve their grammar a few tips on how to recognize and use appositives and appositive phrases.

As a former composition and grammar teacher, I spent most of my time trying to find ways to explain grammar in ways that were clear and easy to remember. So let's get into what an appositive is and isn't.

What is an appositive?

An appositive is a noun that specifies another noun. It essentially gives you more information about another noun in the same sentence.

If you don't know what a noun is, however, this definition won't help you. So a quick recap on nouns: A noun is a person, place, thing or idea.

For example: Mrs. Jackson (noun|person)

taught grammar (noun|thing)

in a school (noun|place)

Now, let's get back to appositives.

Two ways to use appositives

1. Use an appositive when you need to give another noun specifics or context in a sentence.

For example: "My neighbor Aisha is very sweet and friendly." ❤

In the sentence above, Neighbor is the subject and primary noun in the sentence and Aisha is the appositive specifying which neighbor is being referred to.

2. Use an appositive phrase when you want to expand the context around a noun.

For example: Mrs. Jackson, the former grammar teacher, started "Grammar Tip Tuesdays" in 2019 after she left teaching full time.

In the sentence, the word teacher is the appositive that specifies the subject Mrs. Jackson, and the words before the appositive are used to "modify" or provide more information about the appositive.

Why appositives help readers

In fiction and nonfiction, appositives provide readers with more context about a new character or place being introduced.

-Introducing a person: Mr. Rogers, the beloved TV personality, made a postitive impact on many children.

-Introducing a place: For example: My favorite Orlando park, Eola, is perfect for swan watching.

Journalists often use appositives in news stories. If you read a magazine article or newspaper, you are likely to find a lot of appositives and appositive phrases.

Example taken from The New Yorker

Essential and nonessential appositive phrases

If the appositive is needed to express the essential meaning of the sentence, don't use commas. This means if you take the appositive out of the sentence, the full meaning will be lost.

For example: My brother Murray is a pastor. Since I have two other brothers, I need to specify which one for clarity.

If the word or phrase is nonessential (added information that is nice to have but not needed) than use commas to separate the word or phrase from the rest of the sentence.

For example: My favorite movie, The Wiz, stars Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

☆Since I only have one favorite, I don't need the title, but it helps.  But, since I have more than one neighbor, and more than one brother, I needed to specify which one in the other examples.

Well, I hope this helped someone😁

Stay positive and use good grammar!

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